Key points
- Attorney missed RAF deadline, costing client compensation.
- Court held him liable for breach of legal duty.
- Ruling warns legal pros: silence isn’t diligence.
It was meant to be an ordinary shift for Donovan Hadley Moose, responding to emergencies, stabilising lives, the rhythmic wail of sirens a soundtrack to public service.
But on 9 August 2011, as Moose’s ambulance raced through Cape Town’s streets with lights flashing and sirens blaring, a moment’s negligence from a private driver changed everything.
The collision was sudden, jarring. Moose was flung from caregiver to casualty, sustaining serious injuries that would tether him to hospitals and physiotherapy rooms long after the sirens fell silent. Behind the headlines and the hollow rhetoric of “everyday heroism” lay a man grappling with pain, uncertainty, and ultimately, betrayal by the very legal system meant to protect him.
The legal mandate that vanished with time
Moose turned to attorney W van der Schyff to help him navigate the labyrinth of the Road Accident Fund (RAF). Van der Schyff took on the case, lodging the RAF claim within the required timeframe. But then silence. No summons issued. No court dates. Time passed. The statutory five-year window closed quietly in the background.
Moose would only discover the truth in 2020 that his claim had prescribed. What began as a journey toward justice had been derailed, not by bureaucracy, but by professional negligence. Van der Schyff, in his defence, blamed communication lapses and claimed Moose had gone quiet. But the Western Cape High Court would have none of it.
Profession under scrutiny
In a 23 June 2025, Acting Judge FSG Sievers found the attorney liable for breach of mandate. The court heard evidence from Moose and eyewitness Nomade Serfontein, both offering consistent, credible accounts of a driver who failed to yield to an emergency vehicle in distress. Attempts to cast doubt, via an affidavit from the now-deceased driver, fell flat.
Van der Schyff was ordered to pay Moose damages, subject to agreement or proof, and cover all legal costs. But for Moose, the real cost was time lost, trust broken, and a system revealed as fallible.
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