adminYeukai Karengezeka Municipal Correspondent
Harare City Council has lost an appeal at the Supreme Court and will have to pay $9 796 in damages to a man who fell into an unmarked drainage tunnel as he rushed to catch a commuter omnibus along Simon Mazorodze Road five years ago.
Mr Evaristo Mungate sued council in March 2014 for negligence and won his case in June 2016, with High Court Judge Esther Muremba awarding him the suit, but dismissing as ridiculous , his claim for damages of $305 796.
Council, which was cited as a respondent together with the town clerk and the mayor, appealed against the decision at the Supreme Court which upheld Justice Muremba’s ruling.
The accident took place when Mungate was running to board a commuter omnibus to go to work on March 28, 2014, when he was left with a permanent injury on his leg after falling into the ditch.
He claimed that the local authority was negligent since it had failed to cover the drainage tunnel or at least put up warning signs on the spot for pedestrians.
Harare’s acting chamber secretary Mr Stanely Kandemiiri recently reported to the Environmental Management Committee that council had lost the appeal with costs.
Online Reporter