Man burns himself and grandson, 4, alive

Provincial police spokesperson Kay Makhubela said the boy’s father went to work with his wife yesterday when he received a call from his father-in-law, who said he had the boy and was going to kill him by setting alight a car with the boy inside, Randfontein Herald reported.

“Police were notified, and they searched for the car. They found it in Azaadville, but they were too late, as the car already was on fire,” he said.

Makhubela added: “They were burned beyond recognition. So far we are investigating an inquest docket. We don’t know the motive yet but that will be established through our investigation”.

Zaheer Gangat, chairperson of the Randfontein CPF Executive Committee, said: “The community was notified that a car was on fire in Azaadville and that they should bring fire extinguishers to put out the blaze. The community stood together to try and stop the blaze but it was too late”.

ER24 spokesperson Chitra Bodasing said unfortunately there was nothing paramedics could do. The man and child were declared dead on the scene.

The circumstances surrounding the incident remains unknown.

In a separate incident, a case of murder was opened after an elderly woman was burnt to death in Laudium, Pretoria last month.

Police spokesperson Captain Louise Steynberg said an angry crowd suspected the old woman and her husband had been involved in the death of an eight-year-old child.

Steynberg added a postmortem revealed the child had died of exposure to excessive voltage caused by an open live electrical cable. No foul play was suspected.

The deceased and her husband are known as traditional healers in the Laudium area. The mob suspected they might have killed the child for muti, said Steynberg.

Police managed to rescue the man after he was severely assaulted, but the woman died after a tyre was put around her chest and set alight.

– Caxton News Service