Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-02-22

A four-year-old girl was electrocuted at the Thembelihle informal settlement in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg.

The polices Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela said the girl's body was found lying behind a spaza shop in the informal settlement on Saturday morning.

“There were electrical wires outside on the floor and she walked over it and was shocked to death,” he said.

The girl had been missing since 4pm on Friday (21 February)

An inquest docket had been opened into the incident.

Illegal electricity connections have become increasingly rife and dangerous in areas surrounding Thembelihle informal settlement. It does not only affect the economy, but also endangers the lives of many unsuspecting residents.

Out of desperation, residents illegally direct electricity from power lines into their shacks by digging up the roads and installing ordinary cables.

However, the residents are also digging their graves, or even worse, those of innocent children.

Last year (June 30) a Thembelihle resident, Albert Nduna Mthombeni (50), was electrocuted to death.

Mthombeni was said to have been in a veld bordering Seine Street in Extension 10 and the informal settlement when he stepped on illegal wiring.

He was electrocuted and died on scene, where police, family and friends gathered.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)