- Nomcebo Ndubazi received R1.25 million in Mbombela road accident compensation after the 2021 crash that claimed her unborn child.
- The court acknowledged the profound emotional trauma, lifelong pain, and disfigurement Ndubazi suffered, emphasising the human impact beyond financial calculations.
- The Road Accident Fund (RAF) was ordered to pay the damages, legal costs, and interest, with the judgment recognising the enduring personal loss and grief experienced by the plaintiff.
For Nomcebo Ndubazi, a 29-year-old passenger, when an oncoming car swerved recklessly into the wrong lane in October 2021, the accident was not only about broken bones and scarred skin. It was the moment her unborn child, for 31 weeks, died inside her womb.
Four years later, now 33, Ndubazi still lives with the pain of fractured vertebrae, deep scarring across her face, and a body that never fully healed. But more than that, she carries the invisible wound of a mother whose child never drew breath.
From claim to courtroom
Ndubazi sued the Road Accident Fund (RAF) for R4.75 million, laying out her losses, including medical expenses, pain and suffering, and her lost ability to work. Most of the amounts were settled before trial, but what remained contested was the question of general damages, the value of her pain, her trauma, her grief.
Her lawyers argued that her life has been fundamentally altered. She wakes with back pain, endures panic attacks, suffers headaches, and looks at herself in the mirror through the lens of scars. Most painfully, she speaks of her anger and despair at the loss of her child.
Counsel for the RAF countered that fractures heal, the head injury was not as deep as claimed, and that the law does not allow damages to be tallied injury by injury. They urged the court to award just R800 000.
A judgment steeped in empathy
Acting Judge TS Ngwenya acknowledged the legal arguments but placed the human story front and centre. The court carefully considered expert reports, including spine fractures with lingering pain, a neurosurgeon’s warning of possible cognitive decline, a plastic surgeon’s testimony that her face bore permanent and disfiguring scars, and an obstetrician’s confirmation of the loss of her baby.
The judge stressed that the measure of justice was not in cold arithmetic but in recognising the way her life was split into “before” and “after.”
“I find that the Plaintiff suffered severe injuries… an award of R1 250 000.00 is a fair and just amount,” Judge Ngwenya wrote, implicitly recognising that no sum could ever measure the worth of the child she lost.
The RAF was ordered to pay R1.25 million, along with legal costs and interest at 15.5% per annum.
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