I couldn't identify my incinerated daughter in mortuary — Father

The father of one the four children who were burnt beyond recognition when a fire razed their creche in Mayfair, a suburb west of the Johannesburg CBD, said nothing could have prepared him for what he saw when he arrived at the mortuary to identify her body.

“I could not recognise my daughter. All the families could not recognise their children,” said Isaac Pondaponda, who lost his two-year-old daughter Patience in the fire. “Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw at the mortuary.”

Investigations are under way to determine what caused the fire.

Department of education spokesperson Steve Mabona said: “According to information at our disposal, a woman was taking care of about five children in the back room and as such, it does not qualify to be classified as an Early Childhood Development [centre].”

According to Pondaponda, Patience had been attending the creche for the past seven months, and on Monday he and his wife dropped her off at 8.45 as usual then went to work.

However, a few hours later, a colleague showed him a video of a burning house and he recognised it as Patience's creche. He left work to go and see what was happening.

“I saw people crying and they told me that babies have been burnt inside. At the mortuary I could not identify my child, they showed us pictures, but all of us...we didn't recognise our children,” he said.

Trishie Chinyani, 2, Rihana Hassan, 1-year 9 months, and Precious Ncube, 1-year 7 months, also died in the fire.

Residents say the creche owner, a woman from Malawi, had locked the four children in her bedroom and left with her four-year-old twins and another toddler then went to the shops.

While she was away, there was an explosion in the room, allegedly caused by electrical equipment connected to the borehole outside.

Florence Chinyani, a relative to Trishie, said: “We trusted her with our child. We did not expect her to leave our children alone [without a minder].”

Israel Ncube, who lost his child Precious, said though they knew the day care was operating illegally, they could not afford to take her anywhere else.

“The creche was not registered and the conditions inside were not good, but there was nothing we could do because we don't have money, all my money goes to my children. We pay her (the minder) R500 a month and that takes care of food and everything,” he said.

Joburg MMC for community safety Dr Mcini Tshwaku, who visited the property yesterday, said every bylaw in the creche had been broken.

“There are a lot of electrical connections which are illegal, there is also a borehole here, and no-one has ever applied for it. They are busy doing construction and that has never been approved by us as the city.

Gauteng police said the cause of fire is still unknown at this stage and no-one has been arrested. — Additional reporting by Jeanette Chabalala

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