THE mothers of the 5 children who died in a shack fire appeared at Atteridgeville Magistrates Court on Tuesday, 5 September.
The two sisters, Lindiwe Machaka (39) and Zanele Machaka (37) from Itireleng informal settlement near Laudium in Tshwane, had their case postponed to 12 September for the confirmation of the address.
Daily Sun published the story on 27 August headlined: 5 kids die while mums are out boozing.
According to NPA Regional spokeswoman Lumka Mahanjana, the women are facing 5 counts of culpable homicide for the death of 5 children aged 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6.
Lindiwe is the mother to two of the children aged 1 and 2, while Zanele is the mother to the 3 other children.
"It's alleged that on the evening of 27 August, the two women locked 5 children inside their shack and went to a nearby tavern," Mahanjana said.
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She said it's alleged that while the two were still out, the shack caught fire and all the children burned and died on the scene.
"The two women were arrested at the tavern on the same day and are remanded in custody. During their brief appearance in court, the matter was remanded to 5 September for a formal bail application," she said.
A family member who is a sister to the two sisters, Ntombi Masango (32), said the community of Itireleng doesn't want to see the sisters in the area anymore.
"This is not right. We want justice and we want them sentenced at least 25 years each," she said.
Ntombi said they only want to see them released to bury the children and be locked up again.
She said all the children will be buried in KwaMhlanga in Mpumalanga, but they are still waiting for postmortem results.
