PVL3703 Assignment 1 Semester 1 2025

PVL3703 Law of delict Semester 1 of 2025 Assessment 1 Lethabo suffers from epileptic fits. His doctor has prescribed him medication to control the onset of the epileptic fits. On one morning, while lethabo is driving a forklift in the warehouse where he works, he suffers an epileptic fit and the forklift veers into his co-worker zanele, injuring her. It transpired that lethabo had not taken his medication prescribed by the doctor that morning. zanele sustained bodily injuries and was hospitalised. zanele would like to institute a delictual action against lethabo. Discuss with reference to relevant authority whether lethabo indeed acted for the purposes of the law of delict. Restrict the scope of your answer to the element of conduct. According to the South African law of delict, liability is determined by five essential elements- conduct, wrongfulness, fault, causation, and damage. For Zanele to succeed in her delictual action against Lethabo, she must prove that his conduct meets the legal requirements of a delict. This discussion focuses specifically on the element of conduct and whether Lethabo’s actions satisfy this requirement. To determine whether Lethabo "acted" for delictual purposes, the element of conduct: Conduct in delict requires a voluntary human act or omission (Neethling & Potgieter, Law of Delict 8th ed, 2020). The critical issue is whether Lethabo’s failure to take his epilepsy medication (an omission) and subsequent seizure constitute "conduct" under delictual principles. We distinguish between involuntary acts and culpable omissions, as well as assessing whether a legal duty existed to act.