19920619 TZCA Dar es Salaam1

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF TANZANIA AT DAR ES SALAAM CIVIL APPEAL NO. ''1' OF 1991 BETWEEN ·, NUMANI ABDALLAH MBUYt:J • . • • • · • · • APPE:LLANT 1 ·Af.!Jt- . .. TAN~i~A ELECT~IC ~UPPLY co. LTD.-. RESPONO£N7 I (Appo.al frem.-a Judgement· and dec·r•e -,f the High, ~eurt·• •f Tanzar,ia at ·tar es Salaam) I 1 <t1anhan,:a ;J1..> ·dated· the 20th day •f· 'Sei>t~~r,. t ~ in 11<- '· 1 ·. ti1.s,h'C•urt Civil Case·· N!•'·· 249 ~f 1987 JUDGEMENT'OF THE COURT . The· it1i,ellant Numanf' A•·dallah Mbuyu had his h•use ,:--,g~\"y~·d .lty fin 'which start~d -fi:-em electrical ·wires f"lf his · •, hi,use • ., He ·,sued M/S Tanzania Electric Supr,ly Co. Ltci~. 1f•r damages'· Y! having ali:.wed faults in the wiring-~f his ~ ' ••··n,9use te continue until it reached such a state which 1'ade eletrical supply r,f energy a ·danger t• his house. 'Ihe •le,arned :• . trial )ud~~ atter heari~ the. ., evidenc·e from t~ app'ellall·l: and his witnesses ,ind the respcnd'ent11 Company' tt empleyee·s• concluded that·the fire did net start·f.l"'em the !!enice lin~ ~mi rig "f-reiiil the main •utside and installed-•y the. defendant Company rather that it &tarted elsewhere and it could well be from inside the house where 'it was· first-seen / T 2 ~y P • W• 2 the tenant Lu:pondo Mwalimu. The· ~wnf!Jr of -the hWse and his wife were r,ot in the houae at the .t.ime the fire.. broke out which was about 10 a~m. 'l'he rcap4'~dent 1 s. :I side also did t'IOt help much 1n leceting the soarc:e e'f filie. I n.w.2 morely receunted tho electrical fault in the same house which occurred on 6/11/~e. · 6n this d:~y n·.w~2 stated that whon he visited appellant's housc,he noticed a lino which was supplying energey toe. banda wad·touchint ·, -:~· I a tin reof and intei:-foring with the currlnt. He· then r&rne~ I ''-c--~· the. fuse from th~ main switch at'ld so cut off the supi;>ly ef electricity t0 the randa and then informed the afoOellant I t• •"-' leek for an ex~erienced electrician to make the necessary I rei,airs. A mont~ later the fire l!>roke ~ut al\d dea~ye4 I l· I In this state of uncertainty it was ,,ot'considered:..aaf~. ey the learned tri.d jcdge to shift the blame on t, the ,. tlectric Supply Cemp8ny (TANESCO). We have the repert of Tanesco dated the 3/4./!7 on their i.nvesti"at.1ons. inl:v the cause of fire and we find it to be unbiased. The Tane .tl!O report which 1s dated 5/3/87 states as follows: "The :::>ire ~ri,ade -report show~ that the fire ~tarted in. the •aidd~'.e ~m •11 the ter~,. :re:,:b@!d by one__ ~.:-.1:ia. Huruka. The service li,:ne . heuse··•racket end mebtir 1".,oard were near the ~•f>em on the .ri!ht. Service line te other nelilr'l]y h•-'Uses originated -. :f~m thi& Mbuyu 1 s house •racket, and no comr,laints have ever Deen received from these consumers. We thexefere, rule out the p~ssibility that t.Jle firl .erupted due to faulty electric• supply on our p-,wer 11:ies and th~ Company is not responsible f~r the dieeste» that }lefell NduQU Mbuyu". • ..... /3 .. .: ~.- ::::-;:..~?~ . ,~~-:;;:-=~---/ .,,_~~. ··r·---. ,? .. -- -···-·· ·-·. 3 .-- Taking _int•.-acc:Mlunt ,the fact, as discl~l!Ped in the evidence, . ~-·· that ··all electrical lines in the house are installed 1-y the electricians· em~:t9Yed "privately by the· owner ef. t~e .hou~, . any fault or1;.,t.'nating from these lines bec·omes the responsibility of the workers employed by• the owner and not TANE_SC~; ~t.!:1e ,i Company that connects ·the Service lines from t•e main outside to the other electrical line_s within tt)e house. We concur with the learned trial jud,ets find~n~ that "There is s.i•m-ply· nc coge·nt evidence that the •~r'vice·line was faulty and that it had anythin, t~ do with the fire ••• it is conceded that the defendant Company was not· resr,o.nsible for internal wiring."•. We accord-ingl-y · -di-~1-.ss the ap!"e'al"1i'l its entirety.• DATED at DAR ES SALJ,AM thi-s 19th day of June, 1992. L. M. Ml'J<;,ME JUSTICE CF l\PPEAL A. M. A .. OMAR JUSTICE OP' APPEAL L. M. MF/\LILA l JUSTICE OF APPEAL !! I I certify that this is a true copy of the cr:tginal. I lI --r. .-1 •/ / Jjj!{u--·.JJ ·J ( t·~--B. 'KALEGEYA . i . SENIO.R DEPUTY REGISTRAR. I -- --r_---- \;- --· ~-