By Buziwe Nocuze
A woman’s life was ended by an illegal connection cable that struck her inside her yard in Philippi while she was busy doing laundry.
Khangelwa Ndlebe, 48, was washing clothes in her yard at 2 pm on Thursday when a truck responsible for cleaning or emptying their toilets — known as Mshengu toilets — arrived.
The truck was leaving when one of the residents called it back, informing the workers that they had left some toilets dirty.
“The truck reversed and collided with the yard that had a pole some residents used for their illegal electricity connection cables,” said Sindiswa Nyengule, Khangelwa’s sister.
The cables broke from the pole and one of them struck Khangelwa on the hand, leaving her unconscious.
“I received a call while I was at work informing me about the accident. The cable was going through her yard to the houses that residents used to connect electricity illegally,” Sindiswa said.
“My sister has the legal Eskom electricity box in her house. She was not connecting electricity illegally.”
What pains the family more is that even though the incident happened last Thursday, the owners of the cables never came to apologise. Even the truck drivers promptly left the area.
“The truck driver and employees were told, but they decided to leave without checking up on her.”
The victim was rushed to the hospital, but she didn’t make it.
“We need to get assistance to bury her, even if it is from the cleaning company, because if they hadn’t hit the pole, my sister would still be alive,” said Sindiswa.
Luthando Tyhalibhongo, spokesperson for the City of Cape Town, confirmed the incident.
“We send our condolences to the family of the victim. The incident is currently under investigation by Saps, and no further comment can be provided by the City at this time,” said Tyhalibhongo.
He said Philippi is one of the areas that is particularly hit hard by illegal connections.
“The City’s Energy Safety teams and Law Enforcement agencies, with the support of the South African Police Service, conducted regular illegal connection disconnection operations in the area,” said Tyhalibhongo.
Pictured above: A Philippi woman died after she was struck by an illegal connection cable while she was busy doing laundry in her yard.
Image source: Buziwe Nocuze
