Mpumalanga Hairdresser Wins R2.67 Million RAF Payout After Losing 2 Fingers in Crash

• A Mpumalanga hairdresser lost two fingers in a 2022 White River collision and was left unable to work at her previous pace
• The Road Accident Fund challenged her claim, arguing she had no formal payslips or tax records to prove her income
• The Mpumalanga High Court ruled in her favour after experts confirmed the amputation permanently damaged her earning capacity

A hairdresser from Mpumalanga walked away with a court-ordered payout of over R2.67 million after a motor vehicle accident robbed her of two fingers and changed her career forever.

The Mpumalanga High Court in Mbombela handed down the ruling, with Acting Judge TS Ngwenya ordering the Road Accident Fund to compensate the woman for both past and future losses stemming from a March 2022 collision in White River. She had been travelling as a passenger when the vehicle she was in crashed into another car. The RAF accepted full liability for the accident.

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Emergency medical staff were left with no choice but to amputate her middle and ring fingers on her right hand. For a hairdresser, the consequences were immediate and lasting. She spent a full year away from work, and when she eventually returned, the physical limitations were impossible to ignore. Complex techniques like styling and braiding became difficult, and her overall working speed dropped significantly. To stay afloat, she shifted to a self-employed chair-rental arrangement.

RAF's informal earnings argument rejected

The RAF pushed back on her claim, pointing to the absence of formal payslips and tax registration as reasons to doubt her stated earnings. Judge Ngwenya was not persuaded. The court accepted her bank records as sufficient proof, noting that cash-based transactions are a normal and widely understood feature of informal hairdressing businesses in South Africa.

Expert witnesses strengthened her case. An occupational therapist and an industrial psychologist both testified that her reduced grip strength and slower working pace placed her at a lasting disadvantage in the labour market. The court also dismissed the RAF's objection to projections of future earnings growth, finding that her ability to build a self-employed business despite her injuries actually demonstrated her ambition and capability.

How the R2.67 Million award breaks down

The total payout of R2,669,334.25 covers two main components. The court awarded R192,119 for past loss of earnings and R2,477,215.25 for adjusted future loss of earnings. Interest is set at 10.25% per annum.

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Beyond the lump sum, the RAF was ordered to pay all legal costs and to provide a full undertaking covering any future medical and rehabilitation expenses linked to the accident. A separate claim for general damages is still pending, awaiting an official assessment by the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

More on the RAF and pensions

• Briefly News recently reported on a motoring expert who called for the fuel levy and RAF to be scrapped, sparking mixed reactions from South Africans.
• A sister was left with nothing from her brother's pension payout after an adjudicator stepped in, ordering the fund to reinvestigate.
• South Africans were left furious after a podcast revealed that the largest RAF payouts in the country's history went to foreign nationals.

Source: Briefly News