A three-year-old boy was electrocuted to death when he touched an illegally connected power cable at the Umbayi informal settlement in Tongaat on Sunday morning.
Athokuhle Mthunywa (3) told his parents he was going to the toilet but instead of returning home he began playing with other children.
“One of the children came running to us and said Athokuhle was holding an electricity cable. When I got there I pulled him away and also felt a shock,” said the boy’s father, Simphiwe Nyembezi.
“His eyes were still open and his body warm. We quickly rushed him to the Tongaat clinic but a doctor confirmed my boy was dead.”
Hundreds of Umbayi informal settlement residents recently protested in Tongaat over the delivery delay of promised RDP housing.
One of the issues they raised was that they were forced to connect to electricity illegally, resulting in fatalities.
When the Courier visited the area last year, shallow trenches had been dug, passing underneath nearby houses’ fences to conceal the wires.
Athokuhle’s parents are appealing for help to transport their son’s body to the Eastern Cape.
“I’m unemployed and we honestly cannot afford to take our son back home where the funeral must be held. We only need to cover transport costs,” said Nyembezi.
He can be contacted at 064 273 7300 or Athokuhle’s mother, Noluthando, at 071 034 8288.
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