THE remains of two Limpopo children who were burnt to death when the house in which they were sleeping was set alight will be buried at Nkowankowa on Saturday.

This comes after the Tzaneen municipality offered to finance all funeral expenses.

The municipality will pay for catering, transport and mortuary expenses as the family is poverty-stricken.

"Because it takes two parents to give birth to a child, but the whole community to raise a child, we have decided to take care of all funeral expenses for the two children.

"We will continue to give the family moral support even after the funeral," municipal mayor Othanniel Mushwana said yesterday.

Mushwana said the municipality had already started with preparations for the funeral.

Inspector Seth Magadzi of the Ritavi police identified the children as Ntsako Shaun Mkansi, 2, and Nsuku Charete Sono, who was aged five years.

The two children died when the house in which they were asleep was set alight by an unknown person last week Thursday.

Their grandmother, who was also sleeping in the house, suffered severe burn wounds and was admitted to hospital.

The children's mother escaped unhurt as she was in another room when the fire started.

Magadzi said that a man suspected to have started the fire was later found crying in the local cemetery and had multiple burn wounds.

Magadzi said the man, who had burn wounds in the face, legs, stomach, buttocks, head and hands, could not speak or walk and was taken to hospital, where he is under police guard.