A 12-year-old girl was injured by an electric transformer in Khuma, outside Stilfontein in the North West on Tuesday evening.
Lesego Phale, a grade seven learner at Abontle primary school, was walking on the street with her friends when a transformer suddenly fell and crushed her.
According to her family, the transformer landed on her and several community members had to assist each other to take the heavy transformer off her body while waiting for the paramedics to arrive.
Lesego’s uncle Thapelo Msimanga said his niece was admitted to Tshepong hospital with severe injuries and the family was devastated.
“We are touched, and we are still upset; if there had not been load shedding, many others would have been harmed, and our daughter may have died if the electricity was on,” he said.
Msimanga said the family had yet to decide whether to sue Eskom, saying that the transformer issue has been reported to Eskom multiple times because the gadget was not supported adequately.
“Normally transformers have two supposing poles, this one had one pole and on top of that, the pole was crooked and on the verge of collapse.
“If Eskom had not been reluctant to fix the problem, our daughter may not have been fighting for her life in the hospital. She is a brilliant child who is at the top of her class. We know she has a bright future, but the transformer damaged her; it struck her skull, she lost teeth, and she has multiple fractures throughout her body; we’re just waiting for a miracle,” he added.
Katlego Molobele, one of the people who rescued Phale before the paramedics arrived said Eskom had been warned about the transformer several times and they never acted on the concerns of the residents..
“We had to move the transformer on top of her, we were seven, and we struggled but managed. We were happy after realising that she moved her hand, that was our guarantee that she was alive,” he said
Another resident Lerato Mosela said they have been reporting the same transformer since 2018. “We have been reporting it, it is sad that we now see a lot of Eskom cars here today trying to make damage control, but it’s a little too late,” she said
Eskom’s regional Communications manager, Zodwa Dlamini said the power utility was not aware of the incident.
“The company is very much prepared to engage with the family just to get the picture of what happened, when it happened and upon receipt of those details, Eskom will then visit the family of the victim”.
