Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane laid a charge of murder against public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and minister of electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa at the Cape Town Central police station on Monday.
This after three-year-old Neyamiah Eaton died while being taken to hospital after a viral infection made it difficult for her to breathe.
Eaton relied on a backup oxygen cylinder but the inverter powering her breathing machine stopped working after days of outages in her area. Her parents tried to rush her to a nearby hospital but she died on the way.
Maimane said there is no concerted effort by the government and they are failing the most vulnerable.
“There's a famous line that says, 'charge the government by how it looks after its most vulnerable',” he said.
“The most vulnerable are children dying in pit latrines. They are being put in cardboard boxes in the North West and they're dying as a result of local hospitals suffering delays. When there is extended load-shedding, incubators fail, children die. So they must be held accountable.
“We cannot sit here and wait for them to tell us, 15 years on, that load-shedding is something they can't deal with.”
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WATCH | Maimane lays culpable homicide charge against ministers after death of three-year-old
Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane laid a charge of murder against public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and minister of electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa at the Cape Town Central police station on Monday.
This after three-year-old Neyamiah Eaton died while being taken to hospital after a viral infection made it difficult for her to breathe.
Eaton relied on a backup oxygen cylinder but the inverter powering her breathing machine stopped working after days of outages in her area. Her parents tried to rush her to a nearby hospital but she died on the way.
Maimane said there is no concerted effort by the government and they are failing the most vulnerable.
“There's a famous line that says, 'charge the government by how it looks after its most vulnerable',” he said.
“The most vulnerable are children dying in pit latrines. They are being put in cardboard boxes in the North West and they're dying as a result of local hospitals suffering delays. When there is extended load-shedding, incubators fail, children die. So they must be held accountable.
“We cannot sit here and wait for them to tell us, 15 years on, that load-shedding is something they can't deal with.”
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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