A HARARE resident has asked City of Harare (CoH) to compensate her for more than US$24 000 after she suffered severe injuries owing to negligence by the local authority, whose employees left a drainage pit open in one of the suburbs in the capital city.
33 year-old Leocardia Ngonidzashe Mandiwa was left nursing injuries on her body after she fell into an uncovered and unmarked drain, which measured approximately 1.8 metres deep on 30 June 2025.
According to summons filed at Harare Civil Magistrates Court, Mandiwa, who is employed as a hairdresser and who was coming from her workplace located in Harare’s central business district and who had disembarked from a commuter omnibus at a bus stop at Mabelreign Shopping Centre, sustained severe injuries on her body, which include three broken ribs on her right side and also suffered a permanent injury in that she sustained a fractured rib as a result of the injuries and continues to experience excruciating pain, protested that there were no barricades surrounding the drain and there were also no danger warning signs surrounding and around the drain to alert road users of the hazard.
The drain, Mandiwa said, was unmarked such that it was reasonably impossible for her to ascertain its existence and she had to be pulled out of the drain by well- wishers who were going about their business.
Mandiwa, who used to be a fitness enthusiast, and can no longer participate in physical exercises due to the injuries which she sustained from the incident, argued that CoH negligently caused the accident and the injuries and damages which she suffered, by breaching its duty of care towards road users and being negligent by leaving the drain in question open and uncovered.
Mandiwa, who engaged Tinashe Chinopfukutwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to sue CoH, held the local authority accountable for her misfortunes as its employees had left the drain uncovered thereby creating a dangerous situation for members of the public and other road users and for failing to barricade the area surrounding and around the open drain.
CoH, Mandiwa said, had also failed to put danger warning signs to alert members of the public of the hazard and failed to guard against harm to members of the public presented by the open drain.
Out of the US $24 593 that Mandiwa is demanding from CoH, US$5 000 is damages for pain and suffering, US$5 000 is damages for permanent disfigurement, US$4 000 is damages for future medical expenses, US$5 000 is damages for loss of social amenities of life, US$1 237 is damages for medical expenses, US$2 700 is damages for loss of income and US$1 656 is damages for unutilised rentals.
After the incident, Mandiwa was not able to work for six months even though she had secured business premises and had paid rentals in the sum of US$1 656, which she lost as she could not utilise the premises for the duration covered by the rentals as she was hospitalised due to the injuries, which she suffered from the incident.
The Harare resident also lost income from her job as a hairdresser from June to December 2025 in the sum of US$2 700.
Mandiwa charged that CoH has a statutory duty and duty of care to protect members of the public from the hazard by covering the drain, and erecting warning signs and lighting in order to prevent road users from falling into the drain but had breached its duty of care by wrongfully and negligently creating a dangerous situation by leaving the drainage access point exposed and unreasonably failing to take reasonable precautions to protect her and other members of the public, from harm which could have easily been foreseen and guarded against.
Mandiwa is the latest aggrieved person to sue CoH among several people, who have lodged lawsuits against the local authority demanding payment for damages arising from gross negligence by its employees.
ENDS
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
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