Escom dragged to court over K120m compensation
A family in Mzimba is demanding K120 million from Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) after 14-year-old Manase Moyo was scalded by high voltage wires in 2014.
According to a statement of claim filed at the High Court in Mzuzu, one of Escom’s poles at Mtangatanga in Mzimba fell in September 2014.
Residents of the area reported to Escom to fix the pole as power lines were on the ground, but the company allegedly never heeded the call.
Moyo stepped on the wires when he was grazing cattle.
them with bare hands
He was heavily burnt, which forced medical officers to make a skin transplant.
Meanwhile, Moyo can neither walk nor go to school, a development the family is alleging could have been avoided if Escom had fixed the lines.
Lawyer for the family, George Kadzipatike, yesterday confirmed dragging Escom to court, arguing the company failed to honour an ultimatum to respond to the issue.
He said the company was given 14 days last year to pay, but it never did.
Kadzipatike also said Escom was served with court summons, which it has not challenged. This forced the lawyer to apply for default judgement.
“The boy suffered deep burns on the right foot and leg and deep burns on the left leg. He had suffered extensive deep burns on the back, abdomen and hands.
“He lost the skin and had to undergo a skin transplant. The said burns affected almost three-quarters of the child’s body. Since the incident, he is unable to walk, work or go to school such that his constitutional rights to movement, education, to work and earn a living have been violated,” said Kadzipatike.
Escom deputy spokesperson George Mituka was yet to respond to our questionnaire as we went to press. n
