Cape Town - Authorities are investigating allegations that a Macassar mother locked her daughter, who has a mental condition, and granddaughter in their home, where a fire later broke out.
Sally Williams, who shares the house with her daughter, Tammelin Williams, 17, and granddaughter Cherice, five, denied the allegations on Monday.
No one was injured in the fire.
The city’s Disaster Risk Management Centre spokesman, Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, said rescue personnel were alerted to a fire in Ring Avenue after 10am on Sunday.
“When the volunteers interviewed (Tammelin)… she said they were locked in the house while her mother went to the shebeen,” he said.
Solomons-Johannes said residents alleged it was not the first time the children had been locked in the house.
“The Department of Social Development was notified and will be investigating the incident.”
A social worker was expected to visit the home as Williams could face charges of child neglect under the Children’s Act, Solomons-Johannes said.
An investigation was under way to establish the cause of the fire.
On Monday, Williams told the Cape Times she had gone to a nearby shop, and when she returned, her house was on fire.
“I just went to the shop to get groceries when one of the boys came running to tell me the house was burning. When I came home there were already so many people. I don’t like that people made their own stories about me and what happened. It’s not true,” she said.
Tammelin said she managed to unlock the door and left before the fire started. “I was next door when I heard one of the boys shouting there was smoke coming out of my windows. People came and started throwing water. It happened so quickly, but all my things burnt.”
* Early on Monday, an unidentified man was burned to death after his shack caught alight in Du Noon near Milnerton.
In Langa, eight people were left homeless by a fire that gutted two council houses.
On Sunday, an unidentified man died and 15 people were left homeless when their shacks in Gugulethu burned down.
Police are investigating a case of arson in Delft, where a fire was started after a domestic dispute on Sunday.
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