By Kaya 959 News
The family of a newly-wed Crosby couple, allegedly electrocuted to death, say their lives could have been saved if the City of Johannesburg attended to a complaint lodged one week earlier.
Zaheer Sarang and his wife Nabeelah Khan’s bodies were found in their bathroom on Sunday. The couple had just returned from their honeymoon.
It is alleged that Khan was electrocuted when she touched a tap while in the shower – and her husband was electrocuted when he tried to save her.
Sarang’s father claimed that one week prior to the fateful incident, he informed the local municipality that he felt a shock when he touched the taps at home.
He told News24 that “his words weren’t cold” when his son and his daughter-in-law lost their lives.
“I don’t want my neighbour to go through what I am going through now. Their kids play in my street, I want to see them play in my street. I don’t want to carry their bodies. For a parent to carry your own child in a body bag is the most painful thing,” he said.
He added that finding their bodies was “one of the hardest things” he experienced.
The distraught father said no one from City Power had reached out to him to apologise for the incident.
City Power launches investigation
Police spokesperson, Captain Mavela Masondo, said police were still waiting for the post-mortem results that will confirm the cause of death but it is suspected the couple was electrocuted.
City Power’s Isaac Mangena confirmed that they will be launching an investigation into the couple’s deaths.
“City Power CEO Mongezi Ntsokolo has requested the team to launch an investigation into the allegations that the couple was killed by a faulty electricity connection, attributed to the illegal connections in the area,” he said
He said in the interim, they urge residents to desist from tampering with electricity infrastructure.
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Mangena also warned against vandalism and illegal connections which could lead to circuit malfunctioning.
Community activist, Aziz Ally, said the couple’s incident was not an isolated one.
“A young honeymoon couple passed on from electrocution because illegal connections caused electricity to move through their taps, this is not an isolated incident as there has been numerous calls logged by residents of similar instances,” he said.
Ally said residents in other areas were also experiencing the same issues.
“Ward 58 needs a serious intervention now and [it’s] time for the city to stop ignoring our pleas and start delivering services,” he said.
Several areas in Gauteng have been hit by ongoing power outages.
One of the areas, Alexandra, was without electricity after outages damaged infrastructure.
City Power said some of the equipment needed to be replaced.
