A widow has won her appeal against the Road Accident Fund (RAF) for compensation in the Western Cape High Court after her common law husband was killed when knocked over by a container being conveyed by a so-called ‘reach stacker’ at the Multipurpose Terminal at Cape Town Harbour nearly nine years ago.

According to a report on the IoL site, the widow’s lawyer, Chris Smit from DSC Attorneys, says that the judgment will bring the widow and her children much needed compensation for the death of her husband.

In February 2010, the late Simpiwe Robert Makutoana – Thandiswa Linah Mbele’s common law husband – was fatally injured, leaving Thandiswa, then 35-years-old, alone to raise their four children, ranging in age from just five months to nine years.

Smit says that the RAF resisted her claim to date on a technical point, namely that the ‘reach stacker’ was not a motor vehicle as contemplated in the Road Accident Fund Act.

‘In November 2017 judgment was given in the RAF’S favour, which was a huge blow to Mbele and could have nullified any chances she had at receiving compensation for herself and her children,’ Smit said. However, now that the full Bench of the Western Cape High Court has overturned that earlier decision – finding that the vehicle was indeed a ‘motor vehicle’ as contemplated in the Act – Smit says that Mbele is a massive step closer to achieving that end.

Smit says that the RAF is now threatening to approach the SCA for leave to appeal, which would inevitably take time – and money – and which would further delay Mbele and her children’s access to monetary relief.

Full report on the IoL site