Blame game for near-fatal electrocution incident at flat
|Published
Corrie Court, the block where Patricia Da Silva collapsed after being shocked by the stair rails. l SUPPLIED
Cape Town - A pensioner from Corrie Court in Manenberg is still in shock after surviving an electrocution incident that left her numb and being unable to taste for over a week.
Patricia Da Silva has lived at this block of flats for more than 30 years. Earlier this month she decided to step outside to chat to her downstairs neighbour from the balcony.
“I was calling at my neighbour as I hung my arms on the rails as usual, I remember getting this painful feeling and the next thing I was on the ground with everyone around me. I had blurry vision and I couldn’t move.
“It was the most terrifying thing ever. I still can’t feel my entire body. My legs and arms are numb most of the time, my neck gets sore and I feel dizzy often. I can’t stand or walk a distance but at the hospital they told me I would get better in a few days, yet nothing is normal with me. Everything that is iron triggers me, I can’t touch it,” said Da Silva.
Da Silva’s granddaughter, Washiefa Lukas, blames the City of Cape Town for the incident. She said it had failed to properly maintain the property over the past eight years, and they still delayed the repairs even after the accident, putting other residents at risk.
“This is not the first time the stairs are electrocuting people and the City of Cape Town doesn’t do thorough wiring maintenance work, but rather does what seems to be temporary repairs. I don’t know if they are waiting until someone dies.
“Now we have to worry about granny as she’s seemingly not recovering well. The worst of it all is that she already suffered from cardiac problems… and then this happens.
“And for the City, it is business as usual. They haven’t even cared to check how she’s doing? What if there’s internal damage? I am angry and scared; I can’t go anywhere now as we all worry she might not cope alone in the house.
“The City must take responsibility for her health and also make sure this never happens again,” Lukas said.
The City said the residents may submit a claim application to the City Insurance Claims Section for compensation by completing a public liability claim form and provide all supporting information. This includes invoices in respect of expenses incurred, hospital records or medical certificates, and photographs depicting the exact location of the incident.
Mayco Member for Human Settlement, Malusi Booi, said the City carried out regular maintenance to its infrastructure in all areas of the metro.
“The City urgently attended to an electricity fault, which was caused by vandalism, in Corrie Court. The City can confirm that the staircase is safe for residents to use.
“The damaged area at Corrie Court was repaired and secured, and the City’s Public Housing and Electricity departments put additional measures in place to protect the infrastructure from further vandalism and theft. This incident was caused by infrastructure vandalism and not lack of maintenance,” said Malusi.
He urged residents to help protect infrastructure and to report vandalism to the City and police.
“These actions put the lives of tenants at risk, and we cannot allow this to continue.”
However, another resident, Eleanor Brown, said two people were electrocuted on the day in question, and explained that the stair rails had only been partly functional for the past four years. The City has attended to complaints a few times. She said the infrastructure at large has been poorly attended to.
She disputed the City’s comment blaming vandalism, saying no such was found in the properties when officials attended to the scene.