Two children were burnt to death after a fire gutted part of their home in Doornkop, in Soweto, in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Joburg Emergency Services says the boys, a toddler and a 5-year-old died when the mattress they were sleeping on caught fire from an unattended candle.
Joburg Emergency services spokesperson Nana Radebe-Kgiba says, “On arrival firefighters found that the family and community members had extinguished the bedroom that caught fire…”
“We do urge communities to be very careful and never to leave candles unattended and also never to leave any open flame unattended and leave the kids inside the house or whilst the kids are sleeping,” Radebe-Kgiba says.
According to Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), between 2020 and 2022 there were 1 252 children who died in fires in South Africa. This number includes children of all ages, from infants to teenagers. With a majority of these deaths happening in informal settlements.
StatsSA says some of the factors that contribute to child fire deaths in the country are lack of fire safety awareness, inadequate fire safety measures in many informal settlements and carelessness with fire.
Media Statement:
House fire claims lives of two kids in Doornkop pic.twitter.com/Zg59LCmpXP— City of Joburg EMS (@CityofJoburgEMS) June 29, 2023
Child Protection Act
In South Africa if a child dies in an accidental fire, according to the Child Protection Act of 2005, parents can be arrested for negligence. The Act states that parents have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to protect their children from harm.
If a child dies in a fire that could have been prevented, the parents could be charged with culpable homicide, which is a crime that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. However the specific circumstances of each case determine whether or not the parent/s are charged with negligence.
In the case where a child was left unattended in a room with a lit candle, the parent would be more likely to be charged than if the fire was caused by a faulty appliance. –Additional reporting by Bongisipho Magcaba
