[Question] Death by electricity!

[inusjvr]

I was called out one sunday while on standby to a informal settlement where a child was electricuted! The 2year old boy was lying on the ground covered with a blanket! He was electricuted when he touched his shack home that was alive due to an illegal connection (speaker wire) that had a broken place which touched the steelplates! How can we stop this?

[Dave A]

How can we stop this?

Maybe a shock community service advertising education campaign. Stuff that will really make the message real and personal.

The death of a child in the circumstances you describe above would be a powerful storyline.

[adrianh]

I suppose there is another side to this. People that are poor, cold and hungry are willing to take the risks to get warm and cook. The issue with this type of illigal connection is not that they are trying to get around paying, it is simply that they are trying to get electricity. I agree that it is terrible for a child to die this way but I do think there is a bigger picture.

[inusjvr]

Dave the best of all was that it was a small article on page 4 or 5 of the local newspaper! I agree it should have been front page news but no! Its as if it has come to be an acceptable price to pay for having electricity by illegal connections! To millions its a story,to that boy it was his life! Yes they do just want electricity but a lot of them can afford to use for ex. captyre or surfix. They just dont want to! The cheaper the method the beter,and that kite doesnt fly with me! Not when lifes are at stake, when have we begun putting a price on a human life? I agree Dave we need aggressive campaigns against this but I know for a fact that Eskom is running such a campaign at schools but it doesnt seem to be helping!

[murdock]

there are not enough people dying to make a big issue of it...there was a 2 year old killed because someone disconnected the stove and left the wires exposed...the new owner moved in with the toddler...it was a sad story...didnt even make the news.

[inusjvr]

Its sad that it has come to this murdock! I cant imagine the guilt that such a parent must feel!

[tec0]

I will use the constitution for this, it is clearly stated that all of us have a right to life. It is the municipality's job to provide running water, useable roads and safe access to electricity. By not doing their job people die on roads riddled with potholes; our water is unsafe and make people very ill.

As for electricity it is a must have… not a privilege. Because people are denied access to electricity they seek alternatives. The alternatives is deadly thus it brings into question who is to blame?

In almost every country across the world there is some kind of alternative "Wind power, solar panels yet it is so expensive in South Africa that only the supper rich can afford it! Ask yourself why that is?

[Dave A]

I agree Dave we need aggressive campaigns against this but I know for a fact that Eskom is running such a campaign at schools but it doesnt seem to be helping!

It takes time. How long has the campaign been running?

I've seen some adverts on the backs of busses against illegal connections here in Durban. But it's still nowhere near as powerful as an "electricity can kill" campaign.

Maybe some TV and radio interviews would help too.
It really deserves a full blown campaign, and with some effort I'm sure there's enough human interest to get this taken up with mainstream media.

Something like the Arrive alive, Don't drink and drive, Speed kills campaigns. As social service messages they get preferential rates and it's relatively easy to get extra free exposure.

[inusjvr]

Hi Dave! Unfortunately I dont know how long it has been going but they were at my wifes school late last year! I know these things take time but I agree that a campaign on the same scale as Arrive Alive will make a difference,it wont stop illegal connections but it will make people more aware of the dangers of it! In response to tec0 about the responsability that lies with the municipality. After the child was killed we were ordered to go into the informal settlements and remove the illegal connections! With in half an hour we had to flee the area because we were being stoned! We had thousands of rands of damage to our vechiles and nearly with injuries to our personnel! We tried to do the right thing but we were stopped by the community!

[murdock]

i have worked many months in townships in a variety of forms...defence force...contracts...pump stations...waste water and electricity...but after another contractor was shot dead in the head with his own 357...i decided that my life was more valuable than the money i was making...we were fixing the elctricity for them and they were still killing us off...you going to remove their electric you got to be joking right.

[adrianh]

Theory vs practice hey...

[inusjvr]

I wish I was murdock but my engineer ordered us in even though we objected and asked for a police escort he refused! We were told that if we dont he would make sure we lose our jobs! Needless to say next time we will tell him to go to hell! After that I have no respect for my engineer for he showed me that he has none for me!

[murdock]

there is a policy i have in my bussiness which i have stuck to for many years...i only expect my staff to do what i am prepared to do...climbing high mast lighting to replace globes is a good example...the first time i made my staff replace lamps 35 m in the air i had to first do it...eeeeeish now that was about as scary as when you are confronted by.................................eeeish let me not use that word....i might get into trouble....in the townships...but unfrotunately i had to do it to show them it wasnt that bad...yeah right i do do believe my backside was chewing on undies from about 6 metres....off the ground...something else i do not make anyone do...is go into confined spaces...i wont do it and will not make anyone who cant either...tell your engineer to go with you next time.

[inusjvr]

you sound like the boss we ought to have. i also believe in leading by example! we did ask that he should come along but his reply was that that was what we were being paid for!

[Sparks]

Welcome to the new SA. The ANC promised free elctricity if they were voted for. These people are taking what they were promised by their government. The problem is that they do not realise that you cannot have a ripcord, 1.5 or 2.5 cable running from house to house and not expect the smelly stuff to hit the fan. Sure, someone will die but, with 5 homes connected to the "supply" there is only a 20% chance that it is from your family. I used to work in those places to try make it safer but, nowadays it is too dangerous. Even when susidising the cables, they are not interested in safety. Putting in heavier cables just means that more houses can connect to their "safer" supply(at a small fee to the "supplier" of course)