A mother and her child were crushed to death when their house collapsed during a storm in Mtubatuba, northern KwaZulu-Natal, on Wednesday night.
In a separate incident, a 13-year-old boy died after he was struck by lightning while returning home from school in the Nquthu area.
According to a statement by the provincial co-operative governance and traditional affairs department, the teenager was a pupil at the Mampunga Primary School.
Regarding the house collapse, the department said: “It is believed that the 42-year-old mother and her child were fatally injured in the structural collapse of the house they were in, in the Nkwalini area.”
MEC Sipho Hlomuka dispatched disaster management teams to provide support to the affected families.
He warned residents to “exercise great caution as inclement weather conditions continue to pose a serious risk to human life in the province”.
