Man accuses construction company of negligence
As two people die, while he breaks a leg ‘We are digging graves not water channels’
46-year-old Dawilah Maikano of Moshupa who is nursing a fractured left leg says it is only a miracle that he is still alive.
He almost died this past Friday together with two of his colleagues who suffocated to death when a heap of soil collapsed on them while working inside a deep water trench.
“I could feel that something was wrong that day. I felt it, I was very restless and even told others that I was a bit unsettled,” Maikano told The Midweek Sun this week. On that fateful day, Maikano who has been working for Unik Construction Company since November last year, said they were told by their bosses that they should get into the trench and smoothen the ground for easy flow of water.
“I went in there and told Nono Lesego (deceased) that I was not comfortable being in there. I told her the soil will collapse on us and she told me that I was scaring her. “We were about nine in there and after sharing with them my concerns some, myself included, got out. Notice Walebatla also got out, however, Walebatla went in shortly after discussing whether to go in or not,” he said. He continued that most of the workers then went back inside the trench leaving him outside and that is when he decided to also go back in. “Hardly three minutes into the trench screams wailed nearby. We started running and from a distance I could see Walebatla and Lesego running towards us. “It seemed like they were holding hands coming towards us. I really do not know what then happened.
“The soil hit me heavily from the back, threatening to trip me over and I used my might to remain strong. I fought but my leg was stuck. The soil fell on me and went up to the waist level,” Maikano recalled. He added that other workers who had tripped and fallen in front of him managed to get up and dug his leg out using a spade. He was taken out of the deep trench by an excavator. At the time Maikano could not feel his leg. It felt like it was under fire. While still in the state of confusion they realised that some of their co-workers were missing from the group and the excavator was immediately lowered down to search for Walebatla and Lesego. Sadly, they were found dead, much to the horror of the workers. “I can openly tell that our bosses slept on the job. I told them a few weeks back that the place was not safe. It had just recently rained. The soil was wet and it’s not surprising that it collapsed.
“We had been coming to work to find heaps of
soil inside the trench, that on its own was a warning that was neglected. It was at that time that they needed to ask themselves if it was safe for anyone to be in there,” he said. Maikano is not happy with how their bosses treat them. “I remember vividly that two days before Walebatla died, he had complained to our bosses and we were told that if we do not want to work we should say so because there are many people looking for jobs, if we do not want to work we must say it. There is a line of people waiting,” Maikano recalled.
He said that if it were not because they have no
money, no one would be working there.
“We are just here because we need to survive but the way I see it, those trenches are not for water pipes but for burying people. If something is not done quickly, all Unik company employees will die in there.” Maikano is hoping that they will not go back to the open grave again. He wants the company to make working there safe for all.
By Tuesday afternoon, a man who identified himself as one of Unik Construction Company leaders, Moemedi Ramokhutswane said his boss was yet to respond to The Midweek Sun inquiries.