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Lisa Mangena, Court Reporter
COURT officials have gone for a site inspection at a pit that was allegedly dug by council employees in Pumula East suburb where an eight-year-old boy drowned last year.
Council was represented by Engineer Simela Dube and council lawyer Mr Norman Mangena of Coghlan and Welsh Legal Practitioners.
The local authority is facing a charge of culpable homicide in connection with the death of the minor, Freedom Gorimbo, after postmortem results showed that he died due to asphyxia and drowning.
At the site Mr Mangena told magistrate Mr Stephen Ndlovu on Tuesday that the pit where gravel was extracted was on council land but it was not dug by its employees.
“The pit is indeed on the council’s land but council employees did not dig it. We are all not aware of the person or people who dug the pit. Since no one saw council employees digging here, we cannot dispute that the land could have been dug by land poachers,” he said.
The matter was remanded to July 12 for continuation of trial.
In a similar case last year, the BCC pleaded not guilty but was found guilty of culpable homicide after a 15-year-old boy fell and drowned in a pit that had been dug by BCC workers in Pumula South suburb in January 2017.
Tinashe Chipuramura from Pumula South suburb drowned in the pit and his father reported the matter to the police.
Magistrate, Mr Lungile Ncube, convicted council of culpable homicide charges and fined the municipality $600.
Prosecuting in that matter, Mrs Charity Nyathi said sometime in 1995, the BCC left open a pit which is about five metres deep.
“The pit accumulated water during the rain season. The council did not fence or put a prohibition sign within the site to warn the public of the danger. The BCC did not have an Environmental Management Plan for the area as per requirement by the Environmental Management Agency,” she said.
“On January 4, 2017, Tinashe Chipuramura who was in the company of his younger brother, Tendai Chipuramura, fell into the pit while washing his hands and he drowned as a result. Tinashe’s body was retrieved from the pool by Bulawayo Fire and Ambulance Service fire fighters.” — @LissahMangena
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