Funeral of Zaheer and Nabeela Sarang

By Naadiya Adams

Its been a day of shock and sadness for the Sarang family, who buried their youngest son 29-year-old Zaheer and his new bride, 24-year-old Nabeela in a double funeral on Monday.

Yusuf Sarang explained that he had set up a beautiful cottage for the newlyweds at his premises in Mayfair West and the entire family was anxiously awaiting their return home from honeymoon, but as the pair had been travelling, the family opted to give them some room before hearing about their trip – but by Sunday afternoon, things seemed all too quiet, Yusuf went into the back cottage to investigate and found the couple- who were believed to have passed away at least 24 hours before they were found.

The pair were tragically electrocuted on Saturday evening when Nabeela opted to take a shower and an electricity surge pulsed through the taps shocking the young woman, the family believe it was then that Zaheer ran to her aid but also fell victim to the deadly electric current – the couple were to spend their first night in their married home after returning from honeymoon that day.

Newlyweds, Zaheer Sarang and Nabeela Khan

While the tragedy-stricken community is reeling from the news of the couple’s passing, the incident sheds light on the inadequate power delivery in the area. According to residents, the power surges in the area have been an ongoing issue that has been reported to City Power on multiple occasions.

Yusuf said him and his wife Annisa had personally called City Power and the area councillor, Alex Christian to let them know they had been experiencing dangerous levels of electricity pulsing through the taps, he mentioned that he went as far as saying in his reports that “Only when someone dies will you wake up” and a few days later his words became reality.

Radio Islam spoke with a resident from the house right next door to the Sarangs who said she was experiencing the same problem and had also filed a complaint but had yet to receive any feedback, “When I touch the taps, it shocked me but when the water came out of the tap, it also shocked me… I sent twice emails and they sent twice a reference number for me and on Saturday night, 12 ó clock at night there were contractors here and because  I was alone Yusuf came with them to come and check my board, they said there was no problem with the power coming in.”

According to local residents, electricity surges have been experienced in the entire neighbourhood for at least two weeks now, but the issue is not new.

“A lot of people in our neighbourhood actually complained to say when they touching certain things its shocking so we put this complaint through, we even wanted a councillor to come to us and give us an explanation as to why we having these power surges,” said Phagesh Kuber, who lives two streets up in St. Gothard.

Residents also mentioned that in some parts the surges are so severe that they either burn or melt the appliances and with the tragic news of the Sarang’s passing, it is becoming increasingly worrying.

Abdurahman Ricky Nair, chairperson of the Brixton Community Policing Forum says blame must be laid at the doorstep of City Power, he believes it was negligence on the part of City Power that took the lives of this young couple.

According to the family, ward councillor Alex Christian visited the Sarang home on Sunday following the news of the incident, he also acknowledged receipt of the complaints prior to the incident and mentioned that an investigation would be done.

Crosby , Mayfair West, Alexandra and Soweto are the areas worst affected by the city’s electricity and water crisis. The Crosby/ Mayfair West area was also recently left without water for days , leaving Helen Joseph and Rahima Moosa hospitals also without water, halting services due to water cuts. Gift of the Givers recently installed a borehole at Rahima Moosa and is set to start digging one at Helen Joseph as well.

An investigation into the matter has been launched by City Power, but it is believed the family will launch their own private investigation as well.