A GRIEVING Budiriro family is demanding US$150 000 from the City of Harare after their teenage daughter drowned in a sewage-filled pit that had been left open for months.
Seventeen-year-old Talita Munda died at the horror site — a five-metre-long excavation allegedly abandoned by council workers and left unguarded in a residential area.
Now her father, Itai Munda, has issued a 14-day ultimatum through lawyers, threatening legal action if the city fails to pay.
The tragedy has already sparked arrests. Three municipal workers — Moses Dicko, Tinei Chihwai and Thomas Rwakatiwana — were arrested and are facing charges of culpable homicide after three people drowned in the pit.
The death trap reportedly sat for months, filling up with water and turning into a lethal pool.
On June 7, a 19-year-old man fell in, triggering a grim discovery, with rescuers later finding the bodies of Talita and another victim, 34-year-old Vimbainashe Chihota.
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A magistrate denied the accused workers bail, citing the “serious negligence” that led to loss of innocent lives.
Munda’s lawyers, Maseko Law Chambers, said the city failed to secure, fence or warn residents about the obvious danger, adding that the disaster was “entirely preventable”.
“The excavation remained exposed in a community full of residents including children,” the letter read.
The family is claiming damages for emotional trauma, pain and suffering and violation of the teen’s right to life.
“This was not ordinary negligence — it was a shocking disregard for public safety,” the lawyers said.
The City of Harare is yet to respond.