Online Reporter
Peter Matika, [email protected]
POWER utility Zesa Holdings has been ordered to pay a combined US$66 000 in compensation to two minors from Mangwe District who sustained severe electrical burns after coming into contact with low hanging power lines.
The order was issued by the High Court of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo following separate legal actions brought against the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), a subsidiary of Zesa Holdings.
In a statement, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), which represented the minors, said the electricity utility was “forking out more than US$60 000 to compensate two minors, who sustained severe electrical burns after coming into contact with low-hanging power cables owing to its employees’ gross negligence in the discharge of their duties.”
According to ZLHR, the two minors — aged 11 and 14 at the time — were electrocuted on May 18, 2022 in Mangwe Rural District after allegedly touching poorly maintained electricity cables.
ZLHR said the matters were heard before Justices Evangelista Kabasa and Justice Dube, who ordered ZETDC to compensate the children for the injuries they suffered as a result of the incidents.
In the first matter, the 11 year old was awarded US$50 000 in damages, with the court directing that the amount be paid within two months.
In the second case, involving the 14-year-old who was left with a 32 percent permanent disability after undergoing surgery on his right arm, the parties agreed to a settlement of US$16 000. The court subsequently issued an order instructing payment within 60 days.
ZLHR said the minors, residents of Mangwe in Matabeleland South Province, had engaged the organisation’s lawyer, Ms Prisca Dube, to sue ZETDC for damages arising from the electrocution.
“ZLHR assisted the two minors as part of the organisation’s anti-impunity interventions to foster accountability at the country’s supplier of electricity and to deter and discourage acts of human rights violations by state-run institutions,” the organisation said.
ZETDC had initially denied liability in both cases and argued that the damages claimed were excessive before the court rulings and subsequent settlement.
