SCA awards R1.4m in damages to family of five-year-old pit toilet victim Michael Komape

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has awarded damages to the family of the five-year-old boy, Michael Komape, who drowned in a pit toilet at school five years ago.

The Grade R pupil died when a pit latrine at the Mehlodumela Primary School, outside Polokwane, collapsed while he was using it in 2014.

NGO Section 27 assisted the family in their legal challenge to approach the SCA to appeal sections of the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane judgment, which had dismissed some of their claims in 2018.

Section 27 has welcomed the judgment by the SCA, which awarded damages for emotional shock and grief to each member of the Komape family to the value of R1.4 million as well as future medical expenses for each member of the Komape family.

“This is a victory for the Komape family as damages for both emotional shock and grief had been dismissed by the Polokwane High Court in 2018,” the organisation said in a statement following the judgment.

Section 27 said it hopes that this judgment “will bring some semblance of closure for the family and restore their dignity”, considering the manner in which Michael died and the way his family was treated “by education authorities in the aftermath of his death”.

“Section 27 wishes to express our gratitude to Legal Aid South Africa for funding our representation of the Komape family and their pursuit for justice.”

In 2015, his mother, father and siblings, represented by Section 27, sued the national department of basic education, the Limpopo department of education, and the school for failing Michael while he was under their care and supervision.

The Limpopo High Court dismissed the family’s claim for emotional shock and trauma as well as a claim for R2 million in damages for grief.

The court only awarded R6,000 to each of Komape’s siblings for medical expenses.

In September, Equal Education, represented by the Equal Education Law Centre, was also in the SCA acting as amicus curiae (a friend of the court) in the appeal against the judgment.

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu. Background reporting, Katleho Morapela and Olebogeng Motse, OFM News)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.