By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Build One South Africa (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane has opened a case of culpable homicide against government over the death of a three-year-old girl.
The toddler, Neyamiah Eaton died after the inverter powering her breathing machine ran out of battery power due to load shedding in Bromhof, Johannesburg.
She reportedly suffered from a rare form of neurodevelopmental disorder called Woree Syndrome, which causes drug-resistant epilepsy and global developmental delay.
Maimane opened a culpable homicide case against the Minister of Electricity Kgoientso Ramokgopa, Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan and President Cyril Ramaphosa for negligence.
Speaking to the media at the Cape Town Central Police Station on Monday, Maimane accused government of negligence and failing its citizens over the country’s electricity crisis.
“This was avoidable,” he said.
“Government has worked to make sure that load shedding continues and I think it is having this kind of consequences.”
“No more lives need to be lost to load shedding, those responsible for load shedding must be held criminally liable for it. That’s why we’ve got to provide a criminal case and ensure that accountability is sought,” he said.
Earlier this month the High Court in Pretoria ruled that hospitals, schools and police stations be exempted from load shedding.
However, government has launched an appeal against the ruling.
Meanwhile, the three-old-year’s mother, Sunera James said on Sunday that her child depended a backup oxygen cylinder to help her breathe.
“With the constant unscheduled load shedding in Bromhof, we constantly depended on the oxygen cylinder. There were days when we wouldn’t have electricity for hours, and I would need to drive to my mother’s place in Roodepoort to plug the concentrator in so my child could breathe.”
She said the family was not aware that City Power had scheduled a planned maintenance for the area when her three-old-year run out of oxygen.