By Aphiwe Ngowapi
Almost nine years ago on 25 July 2014, Grocott’s Mail reported that the driver of a bread truck lost control of his vehicle and rammed into the house of Extension Two resident and pensioner, Zola Sintwa in the early hours of the morning.
Sintwa was woken abruptly by the crash, which damaged his home’s wall and roof. Luckily, nobody was sleeping in the damaged room at the time.
Almost nine years later, Sintwa still seeks reparations for damages to his property and is looking for a local assessor or certified builder who can assist him pro bono in determining the amount for those damages. His previous assessor for the case, Ondla Hinana, is out of the country and cannot attend the set trial date.
Sintwa put up plastic sheeting and other material to cover the damage and prevent the rains from getting in. He thought this would be a temporary fix until the owner of the truck company paid for repairs. But today, this temporary fix is still all he has.
On the day of the incident, the owner of the truck, Thana Pillay, of the Simply Fresh Food Company, acknowledged the damage caused by his driver. Pillay gave Sintwa the contact details of his insurance company to make a claim. One week after his truck damaged Sintwa’s house, Pillay told Grocott’s Mail that he was very upset that the insurers had not yet contacted Sintwa and that they must repair Sintwa’s house.
In December 2014, the insurance company (whose name is known to Grocott’s Mail) sent a loss adjuster to assess Sintwa’s home. The Daily Dispatch later reported that the insurer’s loss adjuster had claimed that “the damaged items were clearly aged and in poor condition and that the house was made of mud and cement”.
Sintwa says he was offered only R80 000 by the insurer to settle his claim. He had sought quotes from four different builders for the repairs, which estimated that the damage would cost between R183 000 and R320 000 to repair.
Sintwa says this proved to be a real struggle as both parties could not agree how much Sintwa was owed in compensation. Sintwa says the insurer simply closed the claim file, without paying him anything.
Sintwa has been tirelessly seeking legal counsel and assistance from different firms for the past nine years, knocking on every door possible to find justice. He has gone through five lawyers in his quest for justice, because each of the previous attorneys has exhausted his scarce resources.
His case is now headed for trial. Meanwhile, the damages to the wall and roof of Sintwa’s home are as bad today as they were almost nine years ago.
(If you are an assessor or certified builder, who can assist Mr. Sintwa, free of charge, don’t hesitate to contact Grocott’s Mail at 0673889951 or 0717333214 or email linda.mkaza@ru.ac.za or grocottseditor@ru.ac.za).
