Help for Mayibuye families

The families of two children who were electrocuted while playing at a work site have been offered assistance and support by the City.
THE City, through the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) and City Power, has formed a task team to help the families of two boys from Mayibuye who were electrocuted while playing at a work site.

Thabo Ntshangase (11) and Xichavo Chauke (10) were playing at the site on 23 January when they were electrocuted by a live electric cable. They were taken to Tembisa Hospital, in neighbouring Ekurhuleni, where one of the boys died. The other is still recovering in hospital.

The JRA and City Power have jointly sent their condolences and offered their support to the families, as well as any other assistance they may need.

Thulani Makhubela, the JRA spokesperson, said the entity would like to offer its “heartfelt condolences to the family of the child who passed on and a speedy recovery to the surviving child”.

“While this unfortunate incident is something we all hope will never happen to anyone, all of our work sites are clearly barricaded and we do warn both motorists and pedestrians to take every precaution when passing by.”

The two entities urged parents to help protect children and not allow them to stray from their sight. These measures would prevent children from playing near danger, such as at construction sites, and would eliminate future incidents of this nature, Makhubela said.

As a part of the City’s safety and health policy, the families are being given access to the resources necessary to deal with this accident.

“We will also assist the community by providing more safety education … It is also important that we all learn from such tragedies so as to ensure that the level of safety awareness improves among our children and communities.”