Boy (6) suffers serious burns after touching a transformer

A young boy from Mamelodi’s family is afraid that he might never be able to use his hands again after he was electrocuted by a minisub transformer earlier this month.

According to the six-year-old’s parents, the transformer had enclosed plates missing at the backside.

Mother, Holliness Tleane (42), from Mamelodi East said the child was playing with other children at home under his grandmother’s supervision on August 9.

Tleane said her son was injured when he noticed the open minisub situated at Marishane Street located adjacent to the perimeter wall of the police station premises and proceeded to touch it with both of his hands.

“He was on his way to a nearby community park with the other children.”

Tleane said after being injured the grade 1 learner was struggling to cope.

“He is unable to write at school, we must feed him, bathe him and also help him to go to the bathroom,” she said.

“My son is traumatised by the whole incident and does not understand why this has happened to him. We hope he will recover in time to write his final assessments and proceed to the next grade.”

According to the aunt, Mmakgatla Nkutshweu, a passerby found the child crying in pain next to the minisub.

“The child had suffered serious burns on both hands, knowing the family he took the child to the grandmother who then rushed the child to the nearest hospital,” said Nkutshweu.

“We have to nurse and dress my child’s hands almost every day as well as buy medication since some of the medication they don’t have at the hospital,” said the mother.

During an interview, the family disclosed to Rekord that they had failed to report the matter to the Tshwane metro when it happened.

The matter was only brought to the metro’s attention on August 24.

Still, the family blamed the metro whose workers they claimed had left the transformers open.

Tleane said that the transformer next to the station is not the only transformer left open in Mamelodi.

“There are a lot of transformers and minisubs that are left open all over Mamelodi posing danger to everyone especially small children playing in the streets of Mamelodi,” she said.

“The metro should immediately attend to all transformers that are left open.”

The metro was sympathetic to the parents’ plight and regretted the tragedy the family had endured, according to spokesperson Selby Bokaba.

“We would like to warn society in general, and children in particular, to stay away from electrical infrastructure as it may pose a danger to them,” he said.

“We can confirm that our energy and electricity management and staff were unaware of the said electrocution incident until 24 August 2021.

“A foreman was dispatched to investigate the minisub box in question which is the one that supplies Mamelodi East SAPS station in Marishane Street.

“On face value, particularly when looking from the road, the minisub appeared intact,” Bokaba said.

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“The main doors were properly closed, but at the back, that is, between the wall and minisub, rubbish has been dumped to the extent that it covers part of the minisub backside and some encloser plates of the minisub backside have been stolen.

“The internal components of the minisub were left visible at the backside and there were no wires – live or not – that were hanging on the ground.

“Only the metro’s technicians armed with the relevant equipment are allowed to access the substations and mini-substations,” said Bokaba.

He added that Tshwane metro has assigned a team planning official to go through records with a view of ascertaining if and when there was inspection/maintenance conducted in that area of the network, desirably the minisub itself.

Bokaba concluded that the region has dispatched a team to fix the minisub in question on August 25.

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