Eskom has been ordered to pay R15 000 in damages after a giraffe was electrocuted when it touched a power line in Limpopo, News24 reported on Thursday.
Pretoria High Court Judge Ronnie Bosielo ruled that Eskom should have envisaged that the placement of the power lines could injure giraffes on the Liverpool farm in the Phalaborwa area.
CHM Steyn and African Realty Trust had appealed against an earlier ruling by a Phalaborwa magistrate that Eskom could not be held responsible for the giraffe’s death.
Bosielo set the ruling aside on Wednesday, ordering that Eskom pay damages.
He ruled that Eskom could have taken relatively inexpensive measures to ensure game, especially giraffes, could not get close to the power lines and pylons.
There were apparently two pylons on the farm. One was surrounded by a steel barrier, preventing animals from getting too close, while the second was not.
The judge found the electricity lines on the farm were lower than the prescribed height determined by Eskom’s environmental department. — Sapa