The court ruled that a municipality is liable for damages caused to a car parked in a public street as it has a duty to prune trees under its jurisdiction.
The Polokwane High Court rejected the defence by the city’s municipality that “an act of God” caused a branch to fall on a car parked in a street and that it is thus not liable for the damages.
The owner of the damaged Toyota Quantum turned to the court after the Polokwane Local Municipality refused to pay for the damages he had suffered when his car was damaged by the branch.
Owner Makgwathanda Kgadi blamed the municipality for the incident and argued that the municipality should have pruned the trees in the public street where he had parked. The municipality, on the other hand, claimed a huge storm caused the branch to fall onto the car.
According to Kgadi, the municipality was negligent as it failed to inspect, maintain, prune, or remove trees or branches which posed a danger to members of the public and their property. But the municipality maintained that it could not have foreseen the unusually severe thunderstorm which, according to it, constituted an act of God and was therefore beyond its control.
