Officials must pay up after pothole crash
2012-12-05 20:10
Pietermaritzburg - The KwaZulu-Natal premier and the minister
of transport were ordered to compensate a taxi passenger who was injured when a
taxi overturned because of a pothole, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg
ruled on Wednesday.
Judge Jan Combrink said the "massive" pothole
was about 9m long, 2.5m broad and between 20cm to 25cm deep.
He said it stretched across the travelling surface and
drivers crossed the "wrong" lane to avoid it.
The amount in damages to be paid to Hluphile Zuma, of
Tugela Ferry, has not yet been decided.
The accident took place in December 2004 on the
Greytown-Dundee tar road.
The taxi driver, Jabu Langa, testified that he used the
road several times a day and knew the pothole well.
He said that to avoid the pothole he would cross over
into the oncoming lane. But on that day a bakkie rounded a bend "very
fast" and this prompted him to turn left into the pothole.
The taxi overturned, injuring Zuma and 12 other
passengers.
A witness from Zimane Construction, which was contracted
to repair that section of road, claimed the pothole was repaired in December
2004 but the repair was washed away.
Combrink rejected this evidence, saying it was full of
contradictions and inaccuracies.
A roads department official told the court that the funds
made available to the department had to be spread to various projects and
admitted that there was not enough funding.
Combrink said that the "cat got among the
pigeons" when court officials did an inspection of road tarred past the
gate of then KwaZulu-Natal transport MEC Sbu Ndebele.
It was a minor gravel road and the resurfaced section
served only two farms, one of which belonged to Ndebele.
Combrink said that this upgrade cost more than R700 000
in the 2004/2005 financial year. "[The roads department official] was
constrained to admit it was not a formally funded project," said Combrink.
"It follows that those funds were probably obtained
from funds allocated to another project. During the same year R218 000 was
spent by the department on gifts and donations."
- SAPA
