Van Zyl NO v Road Accident Fund [2021] ZACC 44 on 19 November 2021
Koos’ recollection of events at the scene of the accident is bad and he has no memory of the impact itself. After suffering a significant head injury, he is told he was driven to Livingstone Hospital where he was admitted for a period of 10 days and diagnosed with a concussive head injury upon discharge.
As for Koos, how could he be compelled to comply with the time periods mandated by law for the lodging of a claim when he did not have the necessary wherewithal — in other words the mental capacity — to do so? This notion is not new, and even during apartheid, the Appellate Division held that the prescription provisions of the Police Act could not be relied upon as a defence to a claim brought by a detainee whose detention made it impossible to comply with a law that requires statutory notice to be given and which further requires action to be instituted in court, such claim arising from an assault committed while in detention.