…After their now-arrested mother left them with their eight-year-old sibling for hours

By: Lerato Mutlanyane

Two young children, aged one and three, died in a shack fire in Caleb Motshabi, Bloemfontein, on Monday, 13 October 2025. A third child, aged eight, managed to escape the blaze. Police have opened a case of child neglect and culpable homicide.

The children’s mother appeared briefly in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, 16 October 2025. According to reports, the 30-year-old mother allegedly left her three children alone in the shack at around 6 pm and returned four hours later to find it completely destroyed by fire. 
The Department of Social Development revealed that 9,485 cases of deliberate child neglect and 595 cases of abandonment have been recorded in South Africa. Free State MEC for Social Development, Mathabo Hlalele, expressed deep sorrow over the tragedy.

“We send our condolences to the family of the children who died in the fire. It is heartbreaking for such young lives to be lost in this manner. Our thoughts are with the family,” said MEC Hlalele. Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae also voiced concern, recalling a similar incident in Reitz in May, where two siblings died in a shack fire.

“We must do better as parents, particularly mothers. We cannot continue losing our children in this manner,” said Premier Letsoha-Mathae.