A brand-new pair of sandals with a slippery sole was the reason a woman lost her footing when getting off a train in Centurion and broke her ankle.
The wearer, Nthethe Welhemina Mongatane, claimed in papers before the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, that she was pushed by a crowd of commuters in the train which was overflowing. This is why she fell out the door at the SportPark station in Botha Avenue and hurt herself.
But during her evidence in court, it came to light that the cause of her injuries was that she tripped and fell as she tried to disembark.
Various witnesses testified that as she lay on the platform, she told them that she had fallen as a result of her slippery new sandals.
Hospital notes too blamed her fall on the sandals. And in court, she conceded that on the day of the accident she was wearing “fairly new” sandals.
Mongatane stated in her summons issued against Prasa that she had been on her way to work early on the morning of September 27, 2013.
She boarded the train at Olifantsfontein station to travel to SportPark station.
Olifantsfontein station was packed with commuters due to delays by other trains that had not yet arrived. She forced her way into the jam-packed train, she said.
When she reached SportPark station in Botha Avenue she forced her way through the crowds who were mostly headed for Pretoria.
Mongatane claimed that on her way to the door she was pushed and she tripped and fell on to the platform.
Fellow passenger Polumia Kgare confirmed that the train was exceptionally crowded that day. She said commuters were hanging out of the windows and some clung to the train as there was no space inside.
She handed pictures to the court of passengers hanging out of the doors and clinging on to the train.
There were also no guards on the train, except for one who sat at the back of the train, Kgare claimed.
She explained that she often took pictures of the train when it was overcrowded to show her employer why she was late on a particular day.
She did not see Mongatane fall out of the train, but she heard her scream for help after she had fallen.
The train guard, Fumani Mashaba, confirmed that he was seated in the back coach on the day of the accident.
His job was to look out the window and check that everyone who needed to had disembarked.
He denied the train was overcrowded but admitted that while sitting in the back coach, he could not actually see how full the train was.
A security guard at SportPark station, Konani Mudau, said she saw Mongatane injured on the platform. Mongatane told her that she tripped and fell due to her new slippery shoes.
She said the woman told the same thing to her colleague who came to assist her, and she also mentioned the shoes to ambulance staff who transferred her to hospital, and to the attending doctor.
The court accepted that the train had been particularly crowded that day, and commented that there was no doubt Prasa had a duty to ensure the safety of its passengers.
However, in turning down her claim, it was said that from the start Mongatane should have played open cards, acknowledging that the sandals were the cause of her fall.