Mother arrested after fire kills children locked in shack
A 31-year-old Khayelitsha mother whose two children, aged 5 and 10, died in a fire after she left them alone, locked in a shack, while she went out with friends is facing charges of child neglect.
Melezwa Mntwini, of the Emsindweni shanty town in Makhaza, faces two charges of child neglect and was arrested on Monday April 15, according to police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Pojie.
Ms Mntwini appeared in Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday and was remanded in custody.
Speaking to Vukani on Saturday morning, prior to her arrest and just hours after her children had died, Ms Mntwini said she had had to listen to their screams inside her burning home.
She said she had left 10-year-old Athanandi, a Grade 4 Noxolo Xauke Primary School pupil, and her 5-year-old brother, Ingakuthi, who attended Ezimele Educare, in the shack while she had gone out on Friday night.
“I was out as it was a weekend. It was not the first time that I left them alone, but, at times, I leave them with my sister who is not far from me,” Ms Mntwini said.
“Every time I leave them I always make sure that their cellphones are fully charged. I switch off the electric plugs. They usually play with their phones.”
She said she had nearly fainted when her night out with friends had been interrupted by a phone call telling her that her children were trapped inside her burning home.
“I asked them to break the windows so that they could rescue them, but they did not do that.”
The shack was still on fire when she returned home.
“When I got here, they were still screaming. I could not do anything to rescue them and had to leave to call my sister. But we came back, and it was too late,” she said.
Ms Mntwini said she was unemployed and she appealed for help so that she could bury her children in Gatyane in the Eastern Cape.
Residents who gathered to offer the grief-stricken Ms Mntwini their support voiced shocked that such young children could be left alone in a shack for the night.
A relative, Vuyelwa Mtiya, said this was one of the worst tragedies to have struck the community in many years.
“The concern now is the burial of the children. The transport from here to the Eastern Cape would be a big challenge too. She is not working, and, in fact, no one is working. As you see, the whole community is in shock and devastated,” she said.
A neighbour, Nomzi Mpukwana, said she and others who had been woken by the fire had tried to open the burning shack’s security gate, but by then it had been too late as the fire had spread quickly.
“We tried but failed. The fire was just too big for us. There was nothing we could have done but to scream for help. When the firefighters came, it was too late to be able to rescue those inside,” she said.
City Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Jermaine Carelse said Khayelitsha firefighters had responded to the blaze in Dlavu Close near the Makhaza taxi rank at 3am and while they had contained it to a single shack, they had been unable to save the girl and boy inside.
“The cause of the fire is unknown pending an investigation by the South African Police Service,” he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Pojie said the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit in Khayelitsha was investigating the case, and the arrest should serve as a reminder that parents should be responsible and accountable for their children’s safety and wellbeing.
