By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
SA Police Services in Gauteng are investigating the cause of a fire that claimed the lives of five children in Laudium, West of Pretoria.
Tshwane Emergency Services said the fire occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning when six homes at the Itireleng informal settlement burnt to the ground.
Tshwane EMS spokesperson Thabo Mabaso: “The five children, three boys aged two, four and six and two girls aged one year five months and seven years of age belonged to the two sisters.”
Two sisters have been remanded in police custody pending an investigation into what caused the fire.
The children, three boys aged 2, 4 and 6 and two girls aged 17 months and 7 years, were burnt beyond recognition.
It is understood that the sisters left the kids without adult supervision and went to a local tavern overnight.
The circumstances surrounding the cause of the fire are still under investigation.
Mabaso has urged parents not to leave children unattended and to make sure that they are always under the care of an adult.
Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Lebogang Maile has called on the police to clamp down on illegal taverns in the wake of the deadly fire in Laudium.
Maile visited the community on Monday.
“The issue of illegal shebeens is a big problem. It contributes towards crime and needs the enforcement of the law. We will communicate with MEC for community safety and police commissioner to start operations in this area because they create a of problems, they cause revenue loss for government.
“It is clear there are many social ills affecting this community. Also, illegal connections make the work of government very difficult, and we ask the municipalities to enforce the law.”