A little girl, who was visiting her father at an informal settlement, died this week because she was not familiar with the dangers of the illegal electrical connections festooning the Amalinda community which has sprung up in the last couple of months.
Emihle Mva, 10, was on her way to fetch water with her brother Anathi, 16, when she was electrocuted by a low-slung wire that crossed her path.
Mva, a Grade 5 pupil at Mzoxolo Higher Primary in Mdantsane, lived in Mdantsane’s NU3 with her grandmother. She and her brother were visiting their father Mziyanda Xenxe at the shack settlement where he lives with his girlfriend.
A heartbroken Xenxe said he had received a call at work from his girlfriend to say his daughter had been electrocuted.
“I ran back to the squatter camp and saw her lying dead. It is painful, but I am trying to be strong. I did warn her about the wires, but this one was too low on the ground. She called out to her brother when it happened and he ran to my girlfriend for help, but when they got back she was not breathing.
“She was a nice girl and her teachers liked her. She told me she would buy me a Toyota Quantum when she grew up.”
Nomfanelo Sajini, who lives in the newly established settlement near New Generation School in Egoli, pointed to the spot where the girl died. The plastic bottle she was carrying was still lying on the track when the Saturday Dispatch visited the scene.
Curling up the length of wire that was still attached to a tree on one end, she said: “ is dangerous for all of us. We don’t want the cables these men put up. We want proper services from the municipality.”
Pro Veg owner Ann Sansom, whose wholesale fruit and vegetable supply operation is situated close to the new shacks that are springing up behind it, said BCM yesterday morning cut down a spaghetti of illegal connections to the electricity pole next to their business.
Operations manager Tony Coetzer said BCM had removed the illegal connections four or five times this year, but they were simply re-attached hours later.
He said more than 60 shacks had been built in the open land behind Pro Veg in the past six weeks, creating an increase in power supply needs.
“As the shacks grew, so more connections started going up and we started getting power surges especially between 5pm and 7pm. There was not sufficient current to keep three refrigeration trucks going so we would have to unload which creates extra work.
“But the most shocking thing is that this child died. It upset us so much because it is totally unnecessary. Now a family is grieving that didn't have to grieve. Whoever is responsible should be charged with murder.”