Pretoria - Top Zimbabwean athlete Kasirai Sita was feeling on top of the world in 2008. He had won the Stockholm Marathon in Sweden, the City 2 City Marathon in Gauteng and was competing in the Nedbank Soweto Marathon, but his dreams were shattered when he was run over by a race marshal.
The 32-year-old was about 30km into the race when he was struck and broke his leg. He was taken to hospital and underwent surgery on his lower leg at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
He is now claiming more than R2.8 million in damages from the Road Accident Fund - and the Pretoria High Court has ruled that the fund is 100 percent liable for the damages suffered by Sita.
The accident occurred at 7.20am on November 2, 2008, on the corner of Forbes and Umkhuze streets in Meadowlands, when a marshal collecting cones knocked down Sita.
The athlete could not receive financial aid from the race organisers as he did not have a permanent running number.
Sita said in papers before the court that the accident was because of the negligence of the marshal, who did not keep a proper lookout for the runners. Alternatively, he did not brake in time.
Sita was back in court last week to see how much he should be awarded.
However, the RAF lawyers wanted documentary proof of Sita’s income, because part of his claim is for past and future loss of income. Sita’s lawyer, Iwan Maartens, said this was difficult as Sita had received most of his winnings in cash.
Sita’s manager, Dewald Steyn, who manages 98 percent of the top distance athletes hailing from Zimbabwe, presented a document to court in which he tried to set out some of Sita’s earnings.
He explained that although Sita won the Stockholm Marathon in 2005 and ran his best time in the Eindhoven Marathon in the Netherlands, he raced too much in 2005 and started getting injuries. He took it easy for the rest of 2006 and 2007, but in 2008 - when the accident occurred - he was back on track.
In 2008, he completed the City 2 City Marathon as a training run, with the main aim of trying to win the Soweto Marathon in November that year. However, his hopes were shattered by the accident.
Steyn said for the last five years of his career, Sita achieved the best times for Zimbabwe marathon athletes. Sita’s best running years were still ahead of him, he said.
All the Zimbabwean runners used their winnings wisely and first secured a home, Steyn said. They then started a business to secure a living for when their running days were over.
Sita dreamt of competing in the 2012 London Olympics. At the time of the accident he was well on his way to preparing for this, Steyn said. Maartens said his client had a lot of talent. What happened to him, was very sad as he would never be able to compete again.
No date has yet been set for when they will be back in court.
Pretoria News