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OpenZESA Pays US$10 000 In Damages To Man Electrocuted By Hanging Electricity Cables
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has forked out ZiG132 889, which is about US$10 000, to a 21-year-old man, as compensation for damages, after he was electrocuted 2 years ago and sustained severe electrical burns owing to gross negligence by the State-run power utility.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Dumisani Chikosi, who resides in Tonhodzai village in Chiadzwa in Manicaland Province, was electrocuted by some electricity cables that were hanging close to the ground in January 2022 while walking home in the company of four other people.
As a result of the electrocution, Chikosi suffered severe burns all over his body and permanent and irreversible injuries.
Chikosi, who was a teenager at the time that he was electrocuted, went on to spend 80 days at Murambi Garden Clinic in Mutare, where he received treatment. Added ZLHR:
While in hospital, ZESA Holdings through its subsidiary, Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), paid for his medical expenses although it was not forthcoming with respect to paying him compensation for the damages, he suffered.
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This then compelled Chikosi to engage Peggy Tavagadza and Tatenda Sigauke of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights who in December 2022 wrote a letter of demand to ZETDC Eastern Region offices claiming US$20 000 in damages.
In their letter to ZETDC, Tavagadza and Sigauke told the electricity generating company that it was liable for the unfortunate accident, which was caused by negligence on the part of its employees, who neglectfully failed to secure electrical cables in a residential area, thereby endangering people.
The human rights lawyers said in response to the letter, Cell Insurance, who are ZETDC’s insurers offered a settlement of US$10 000, which Chikosi accepted.
However, ZETDC vacillated and failed to honour its obligations in respect of the offer of settlement, which it had made. Said ZLHR:
This prompted Tavagadza and Sigauke to file a summons at Mutare Magistrates Court on 5 April 2024 seeking an order to enforce payment from ZETDC.
While the matter was yet to be set down for hearing in court, ZETDC immediately made a payment amounting to ZiG132 889, which translates to about US$10 000 to Chikosi, as compensation for the damages, which he suffered from the electrocution. Resultantly, Chikosi withdrew the summons after ZETDC paid him compensation.
ZLHR intervened in assisting the minor child as part of its anti-impunity strategies to foster accountability at the country’s supplier of electricity and to deter and discourage acts of human rights violations by state-run institutions.
Over the years, ZLHR has intervened in similar cases of ZESA Holdings’ negligence by suing and obtaining orders for payment of damages on behalf of several victims.
More: Pindula News
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