Mdluli v Road Accident Fund

• Jurisdiction: http://justis.com/jurisdiction/166,South Africa
• Judge: BA Mashile J
• Judgment Date: 24 June 2022
• Docket Number: 2594/2018
• Hearing Date: 24 June 2022
• Court: Mpumalanga Division, Mbombela
• Citation: 2022 JDR 1713 (MN)

Mashile J:

INTRODUCTION:

[1]

This is a loss of support claim against the Road Accident Fund emanating from an accident that occurred on 7 November 2015 along Plaston Road in White River, Mpumalanga Province. The motor vehicle accident was between motor vehicle bearing registration letters and number HDH 402 MR, which was driven by Dr Ntando Mdluli ("the deceased") and motor vehicle with registration letters and number DHN 934 MR whose driver is unknown.

[2]

In consequence of the accident, the deceased sustained serious bodily injuries of which he subsequently died. He is survived by his widow, the Plaintiff, and two minor children, Mpumelelo and Mncqobi ("the minor children") to whom, as a father and natural guardian, he owed a duty of support during his lifetime. The action was initially defended but the Defendant later terminated the mandate it had given to its attorneys. The matter has therefore become undefended and is proceeding on both merits and quantum. Below follows firstly, the evidence led in respect of the merits and secondly, quantum.

EVIDENCE ON MERITS:

[3]

The first witness to take the stand was the Plaintiff. Strictly speaking, her evidence had nothing to do with the merits of the accident but it was rather on locus standi and partly quantum insofar as she laid bare how much she earned. She testified that she and the deceased were married to each other with antenuptial contract. She earned an amount of R600 000.00 per annum from two companies. Of her marriage with the deceased, the two minor children were born. She was not present when the accident happened consequently everything that she knows about the accident is hear-say.

[4]

The second witness was Ms Matau Nosizwe Nyathi. She was a front seat passenger when the accident took place. She said that she and the deceased were on

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the Plaston Road driving into the direction of Ka-Bokweni. Shortly after driving pass the airport stop sign, the road curves. She noticed a vehicle emerging from the bend driving into the opposite direction travelling in their lane. In an endeavour to avoid a head-on collision with the approaching vehicle, the deceased swerved to his left-hand side. Seeing that doing so would cause him to collide with a tree on the left-hand side of the road, he sharply turned back onto the road.

[5]

She testified that in veering back onto the road, he probably over corrected the maneuver because he collided with the rear end of the approaching vehicle. On impact, the deceased's vehicle lost balance and overturned. She said that it is at this juncture that her memory fails her completely. She did not know anything about the fate of the other vehicle and its driver. Insofar as she was concerned, the deceased had done everything that a reasonable driver in his shoes would have done to avoid the collision.

[6]

The next witness was the actuary, Mr Potgieter. He testified that he received instructions from the attorneys of the Plaintiff, Gama Attorneys, to calculate the loss suffered by dependents of the deceased. He stated that when calculating the loss, he considered the amendment to the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996 ("the Act") introduced in 2008. In short, the claims are affected by the cap mentioned in the Act.

[7]

The information that was provided to him was that the deceased was born in 1971 and was therefore aged 44 when he met his premature death. His wife, the Plaintiff, was born in 1978 and would as such, have been thirty-seven years old at the time when her husband, the deceased, died in 2015. Their eldest minor child was born in 2006 while the second in 2010. Mr Potgieter postulated two scenarios, one where the calculations were done until the end of the respective calendar years during which the minor children would reach age eighteen and the other, when they become twenty-one years old.

[8]

Mr Potgieter said that since the father of the minor children was a medical doctor, it would be appropriate to assume that their loss would have extended to age twenty-one, which would encompass their years of studying towards the acquisition of a tertiary

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education. The deceased was the owner of a medical practice known as Ntandoyenkosi Trading (Pty) Ltd. He testified further that he was furnished with various excerpts of annual financial statement of the deceased's medical practice. He was the sole shareholder of the company.

[9]

For the year that ended on 31 December 2014, the previous year before his death, he had earned a net income of R1 043 712.00. The year prior to that, however, shows a loss of an...