Venda villagers sold contaminated paraffin are suing Engen and its agents
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
Engen, South Africa’s biggest petroleum company, is facing a multimillion-rand lawsuit from residents of a little village where a person died and many suffered severe trauma after paraffin lamps exploded in their homes last year.
Lawyers representing the villagers of Davhana outside Thohoyandou, Northern Province, confirmed this week that Engen and its agents, Soutpansberg Petroleum, would be served with summonses.
In October a woman was literally roasted by flames and four others were treated for third-degree burns after their lamps exploded. Nyamulambilu Munyai (61) died as a result of her burns in a local hospital.
The villagers had bought contaminated paraffin from a local filling station. Davhana does not have electricity and its residents depend on paraffin for light. Soutpansberg Petroleum gave the affected families R9?000 in total, but says the “donation” had nothing to do with compensating the victims.
The decision to bring a civil case against the Malaysian-owned oil giant came after it failed to reach an out-of-court settlement with the villagers.
Engen’s officials and representatives of Soutpansberg Petroleum met the victims’ lawyers from the University of Venda’s legal aid clinic for the first time last week.
Law clinic director Sam Negota said the companies offered to pay compensation of R90?000, which was rejected on the grounds that the companies were not “sensitive enough to the demands of my clients”.
“All the companies involved in the supply of the inflammable paraffin will be issued with summonses.” Negota said the legal aid clinic had initially demanded R300?000 from the two companies “to test whether they were responsible enough”. He said his team will rely on expert advice to determine how much the victims should be paid.
Davhana community leaders and the victims vowed not to settle for less than R2-million.
Community leader George Ramashia, who is also an African National Congress leader in the area, said the damage caused by the paraffin was “irreparable” and that the companies involved should pay “heavily”.
One of the victims, Azwidohii Mukwevho, said the paraffin explosion has shattered her dream of becoming a teacher and was the main reason she failed her matric exams last year. Mukwevho was in hospital for 10 days and was discharged only two days before the start of the exams. She fears her scars will scare off a future husband, and says she has lost her self-worth because she does not look “good” anymore.
It is still not yet clear what caused the fatal explosions as Engen has not released the findings of its internal investigation into the explosion. Engen’s representative Jackie Lang said her company cannot release the investigation findings as the matter is sub judice.
Lang said Engen was not directly involved in the out-of-court settlement negotiations, saying the matter was discussed between Soutpansberg Petroleum and the victims’ legal representatives.
Soutpansberg Petroleum’s legal representative Corrie Myburgh declined to comment, saying he was awaiting the pending summons.