CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
Case CCT 52/04
NK
Applicant
versus
MINISTER OF SAFETY AND SECURITY
Heard on
:
10 May 2005
Decided on :
13 June 2005
Respondent
JUDGMENT
O’REGAN J:
[1]
This is an application for leave to appeal against a judgment of the Supreme
Court of Appeal. Ms N K, the applicant, seeks damages in delict from the Minister of
Safety and Security, the respondent, on the basis that she was raped by three
uniformed and on-duty policemen after she had accepted a lift home from them when
she found herself effectively stranded in the early hours of the morning. The case
raises the scope of the vicarious liability of the Minister of Safety and Security under
our law. Both the High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Ms K’s
claim on the grounds that the respondent was not vicariously liable for the conduct of
the policemen which had caused the harm to Ms K.