Distraught widow blames metro
"My husband was only trying to help the neighbourhood."
The distraught wife of the late Marius Horn who died after trying to check what was wrong with the electricity in his neighbourhood, said that if Tshwane municipality had responded in time, her husband would still be alive.
Horn died after being electrocuted in Johann Street, Raslouw, while he tried to repair the electricity in the early hours of Friday morning after residents in Centurion were left without power for days when several substations were targeted and vandalised.
Pouring her heart out to Rekord, Pamüla Horn said her husband was only trying to help his neighbourhood affected by power failures.
“We have been experiencing constant power failures in our area and after reporting the fault several times, nothing happened. We only received messages saying ‘we will attend to the matter shortly’. When my husband who is a technician met his ultimate death, he was only trying to check what could be the cause of the problem. He moved from one pole to another and it was unfortunate that something was wrong with this particular pole,” a sobbing Horn said.
She further added that the passing of her husband, who was the family’s bread winner, has left a void in the family. The family has a seven-month-old baby and Pamüla said it will be difficult for her to raise the child as she is not currently employed.
“I do not know what will happen to me and my children. I don’t even know how I will bury him as we do not have a funeral plan, ” she said.
According to Lindela Mashigo, director of media relations at the Tshwane metro sympathises with the family and friends of the deceased.
“It is common knowledge that electricity is dangerous and kills. Tempering with electricity connections will only result in unfortunate incidents and deaths. The metro urges customers on a regular basis when affected by power failures to adhere to the following safety hints: report such to our Customer Care Centres to ensure that the matter is attended to by trained technicians, treat all electrical points ‘As Live’, switch off all non-essential appliances to assist with the load on the electrical network and if using a generator, residents are urged to use only generators with an auto start and shut off function and not to connect generators without this function to the electrical network,” explained Mashigo.
André Jordaan, a family friend said they are trying to come up with ways to assist the family during these trying times.
Marius Horn is expected to be laid to rest next week Monday.
