The mother of an eight-year-old child from Ramokgolela Village outside Zeerust in the North West, who was allegedly burnt by an electricity transformer is pleading for help after the incident left her son with a mental illness.
Elizabeth Moiloa tragedy struck when a group of children including Lethlogonolo Moliloa were about to be immunised at Naledi ya Masa and they saw injections which made them panic and run away.
“My son and the others ran away as soon as they saw injections. And when he was running he came across an electrical transformer that was on the ground. Earlier the community had reported that a transformer fell but Eskom left it unattended.
“I was called around 2 o’clock when he was taken to a local clinic. He was then taken to a hospital in Rustenburg. After it was discovered that there is no treatment for him in the province he was transferred to Baragwanath hospital in Gauteng.
“I am unemployed but I had to make means for him to go to Baragwanath. When I was at the hospital I was called by two gentlemen namely Kgomo and Ndebele. That was the last time I heard from Eskom.
“Even now I still have to take my son to Baragwanath, yet I have not received any compensation from Eskom for what has happened to my son. The incident happened in 2019 during the COVID-19 pandemic, I struggled to find anyone that could help me lodge a complaint at Eskom.
“I am unemployed and lack resources to make follow-ups, and as you can imagine this was a difficult time for me. I was dealing with the pain of my child being in the ICU fighting for his life. I asked the school principal to help me. But up to today, I never even got an explanation from school to help me understand why my child was not at school when I left them under their care,” she said.
Elizabeth said her son is in desperate need of surgery to cover the burn scars on his body.
“Ever since the incident my son has had a mental disability, he has bad scars from the burns. I would like him to go for surgery on his skin for him to look normal again. His feet were amputated.
“His life is never going to be the same again. Eskom needs to pay for the negligence of leaving that power station unattended while it was reported,” she said.
The North West Department of Education spokesperson, Elias Malindi refuted claims that the incident happened during school hours.
“As the department, we are aware of that incident. However, our records show that it happened after school around 3 o’clock. Another thing is that it happened 800 meters away from the school. But we have supported the parent. The principal of the school even visited her,” said Malindi.
Elizabeth confirmed that she spoke to some officials from the power utility, but Eskom’s customer relations manager in the North West, Ezekiel Baruti, said they are not aware of the incident and will only act after it has received formal communication or claim from the victim’s family.
“As soon as the formal claim is received from the family. We will then be in a position to register the claim, and appoint a team of experts to investigate the incident.
“Upon completion of the report, a full formal legal investigation chaired by an external and independent chairperson will be commissioned. This is a transparent investigation, which involves all parties. The results of the investigation team will be shared with the family subject to following all protocols and formalities,” Baruti said.
