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Pamela Shumba Chronicle Reporter
A LAD playing football died after being electrocuted at a soccer field yesterday. Shepherd Mpala, 17, of Magwegwe North, touched an exposed electric cord at the base of a Bulawayo City Council tower light in Bulawayo’s Pelandaba suburb, witnesses said.The teenager, who was playing football with mates, was trying to reach out for his soccer boots when tragedy struck shortly after 8.30am.
His horrified pals – who all were hanging around the same exposed wire moments before – made frantic calls to the emergency services after Mpala fell to the ground.
A teammate, who declined to be named, said: “We’re always here for our training sessions and this soccer field is usually used for a number of matches.
“Today, we met as usual and Shepherd was writing down our names while we were preparing for our training. We were all sitting under the tower light.
“Soon after writing our names, he tried to reach out for his soccer boots and touched a naked live wire with his hand. He fell to the ground and we realised that he was not moving.
“We immediately called an ambulance which responded swiftly. The paramedics confirmed that he was dead and left his body.”
The police took his body to the mortuary.
The visibly shaken teammate expressed shock over Shepherd’s death, saying they never thought the electric cord was dangerous.
It had been exposed for months, he said.
Residents blamed the Bulawayo City Council for the teenager’s death, saying they reported a number of naked wires to the local authority but nothing was done.
“We’re not happy about what has happened here. The city council must be held accountable for the death of this young man. As concerned residents, we phoned Zesa and asked them to do something about the naked wire. Officials from Zesa attended but told us that it was the responsibility of the council to fix it. We phoned the council but nothing was done,” said Alick Gumede, the chairman of the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association in Ward 13.
He added: “This is a big trap that has robbed a young man of his life. I think we must institute legal action against the responsible authorities for such negligence.
“If the tower light was in a bush where there are no people we would understand, but this is a soccer field where young people play on a daily basis. Something must be done to stop such irresponsibility.”
Zesa Matabeleland region general manager Lovemore Chinaka referred all questions to the council and said the streetlights were the local authority’s responsibility.
The city council’s senior public relations officer, Nesisa Mpofu, said: “We’re aware of the incident but we have not yet received full details of what transpired.”
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo said: “We received a report of the sudden death of a young man on a football field and the matter is under investigation.”
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