Laudium sisters in court after five children die in shack fire

Two sisters from the Itireleng informal settlement near Laudium appeared in the Atteridgeville magistrate’s court on Tuesday to face five counts of culpable homicide after the deaths of five children aged between a few months and seven years. 

Lindiwe Machaka, 39, is the grandmother to two of the children, one aged less than one and the other aged two, while Zanele Machaka, 37, is the mother of the three other children.

The youngest of the victims was just five months old, while the oldest was seven. 

“It is alleged that on the evening of August 27 2023, the two women locked five children inside their shack and went to a nearby tavern.

“It is alleged that while the two were still out, the shack caught fire and all the children burnt and died on the scene,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana. 

The women were arrested at the tavern the same day and were remanded. Their case was postponed until next Tuesday for a bail application. 

At the weekend, TimesLIVE reported how emergency services from Tshwane were alerted to the blaze at 4.26am. It destroyed six shacks at the informal settlement. 

Tshwane emergency services spokesperson Thabo Mabaso said the cause of the fire was under investigation.

TimesLIVE