Efforts by a Zambian man to impound a South African Airways (SAA) aircraft have failed despite the backing of a court order, bailiffs were unable to seize the plane. However, they were able to take assets from SAA’s local office.
According to news reports, a Zambian citizen’s attempts to seize a South African Airways aircraft have failed. The reason for failure wasn’t legal but reportedly due to “interference” from airport authorities. However, with a court order in hand, the plaintiff is pushing ahead with enforcement.
The airline’s office in Zambia has been seized, along with assets such as computers, furnishings, and more. However, the plaintiffs have reportedly said that they plan to make further attempts to seize an aircraft from the airline.
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The case stemmed from an incident onboard an SAA flight in 2019. The man at the centre of the controversy is Joseph Moyo. In 2019, he was flying from Livingstone to Johannesburg, with an onward connection to the US. Moyo, who uses a wheelchair, was travelling with a nurse on the flight. When he wanted to use the bathroom, he requested flight attendants for an “aisle chair” to move through the cabin.
However, the crew members were informed that there was no aisle chair available on the aircraft. This resulted in Moyo soiling himself on the flight, leading to emotional trauma and pain. He subsequently sued the airline on various charges for breaching their duty to passengers.
Each country has a different law on the use of aisle chairs in aircraft. Most require that widebody aircraft come equipped with one, since wheelchair-users are likely to use the washroom on longer flights. However, narrowbody planes may not come with the chairs due to the shorter length of the flight and smaller toilets.
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Moyo received a default judgement in the case, meaning that SAA did not respond in court to the charges. He has won over $10,000 in compensation toward the cost of therapy, to reimburse his three-day hotel stay in Johannesburg due to trauma from the incident, and for SAA’s failure to load an aisle chair on the flight.
In response, SAA has said that it will challenge the default judgement and has a stay on the verdict. It’s unclear if the airline will now be able to avoid the seizure of its aircraft in Zambia.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry