Two children died in Pola Park east of Johannesburg on Monday after their mother’s ex-boyfriend allegedly set fire to the shack they were sleeping in, police said.
The man, in his 40s, had an argument with the children’s mother while she was with her boyfriend in a shack at the Britti squatter camp on Sunday night, Superintendent Andy Pieke said.
”The ex-boyfriend then left and the woman and her boyfriend decided to leave the shack and went to sleep somewhere else,” Pieke said. ”The children were left sleeping in the shack.”
The man returned shortly before 1am and allegedly used a flammable liquid to set fire to the shack.
The two children, a six-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl, died in the fire.
The woman’s ex-boyfriend handed himself over to police at about 2am and was arrested.
He faces charges of murder and arson. — Sapa