[WATCH] EXCLUSIVE: 'Mrs Mantashe had total disregard for my father’s life’

Canham, who is a pensioner, was involved in a car accident in Boksburg in May.

The driver of the other vehicle was Nolwandle Mantashe, the wife of Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe.

According to the accident report, Mantashe never gave a statement at the scene and the police officer in charge was unable to obtain a statement from her after she was discharged from the hospital. 

Pictures that were taken at the scene also show that Mantashe’s license disc had expired in January 2018, three months before the accident. 

Mantashe, however, says she had her new license disc in the car with her. 

In written replies to Jacaranda FM News, she says she only realised she was involved in a car accident, moments after it happened. 

“All I saw is some lights and some confusion, I was not aware of the place. I hit the car, and everything seemed to have happened from afar. I was told my car rolled twice."

She says she contacted the police four weeks after the accident when she was discharged from hospital and she was told they have given all the information they had to OUTsurance. 

The 69-year-old Canham says he was on his way to the hospital to get his chronic medication when he reached the intersection near his home in Reiger Park.

He says the traffic lights were out of order, he yielded for oncoming traffic, and proceeded once it was safe. 

Canham says he suddenly heard a loud bang out of nowhere and his 2005 Toyota Corolla was written off as a result.  

“What we need to take into consideration is that this woman had total disregard for my father’s life or anyone who was on the road at the time. Even how the accident happened, she had no intention of stopping at the robot or slowing down. And subsequent to the accident my dad’s life has declined and it's possible that he could not be here today because of this accident. These are the things the Mantashe family needs to acknowledge,” says Canham’s son, Paul. 

Canham says they only heard from the Mantashe family twice after the accident.

“In the beginning, there were one or two calls between us and the Mantashe’s, after we obtained their insurance information we thought let us just deal with Outsurance, and since then they have not done any follow up’s with how that process unfolded. The accident has affected my father greatly. Before it happened, he was just on chronic medication, but he was dependent on the vehicle to go for his monthly check-ups and medication and with the loss of the car he has been forced to walk 3 to 4 kilometers to fetch his medication." 

Canham claims both Mantashe and her son Buyambo admitted guilt at the scene and said they would take care of the costs for his father's car. Mantashe denies this, saying she could not have admitted guilt as she had blacked out. 

Subsequent questions sent to Mantashe by Jacaranda FM News around the claims of a black-out and whether this was before or after the accident, and if the hospital explained what caused it, were not answered. 

On the 18th of December, OUTsurance’s Legal Liability Advisor, Mbali Mncube, sent an email to the Canham family, informing them that the insurance company believed that he was liable for the collision and therefore won’t be paying out. 

In response to our questions, Head of Client Relations at OUTsurance, Natasha Kawulesar, admits the company was wrong. 

“After receipt of your mail, we have reviewed the matter and are of the view that our initial assessment of the matter was incorrect. We will be settling Mr. Canham’s claim in full and we will not be recovering any costs from Mr. Canham.” 

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Ekurhuleni has been assisting the Canham family with legal advice. 

The regional chairperson Nkululeko Dunga says they will put pressure on OUTsurance until the family is compensated. 

"One of the things one can take refuge in is that the company will pay, and this speaks to the agitation that needs to continue with these insurance companies, who see a need at the times to always look for a way not to hold down to their contractual obligations with their clients."

Dunga believes both Mantashe and OUTsurance wanted to run away from the responsibility of paying out the claim. 

Canham's son Paul says the news that his father will finally receive his money has left him with mixed feelings.

"As a family, we have been going through this for so long and when we received the letter that our claim was denied we felt helpless and didn't know what to do. It was shocking how they handled the matter and we as a family have been vindicated" 

OUTsurance did not respond to questions as to why the company initially concluded that Canham was at fault for the accident.