Mangwe legislator, Hlalani Mguni, is requesting assistance for three Kweneng Primary School learners who were electrocuted by ZESA cables in May while on their way home from school.
The three learners (aged 8, 9, and 10) who were admitted to United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH), have since been discharged and one of them was amputated both legs and an arm.
“One of these children has since been amputated an arm and legs, one was discharged but is being attended to and is being ferried to hospital in a wheelbarrow,” Mguni told the National Assembly Tuesday.
“We now request that the parents of these children be assisted so that they can have access to their children and that they can bath them and give them food. These are parents from a rural area, some are now saying they have since sold some beasts so that they can have resources to go and see their children in hospital.”
Villagers at Ingwizi Growth Point, who said cables had been lying idle since 2020, blamed the electrocution incident on the power utility’s negligence, something which the parastatal denied.
“When are these poles going to be put in their right positions?” asked Mguni.
“Again, as a result of the fall of these ZESA poles, the schools in the area are running without electricity. How are the schools going to be helped so that they can run properly?”
The parastatal said the children tampered with the cables, resulting in their electrocution.
“On the following day, 17 May 2022, the three children were walking home under the 33kv line,” ZESA said in a statement following the incident.
“At the site of the accident, the conductor was about 2m above ground. It is at this point that the children used a metallic object to reach out to the low-hanging conductor, resulting in them receiving burns.
The power utility added: “We encourage our kids and the general public to always observe electricity safety as this may result in electrical accidents.”
