Tag: Mthokozisi Maphumulo

President Ramaphosa has promulgated the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act. The NHI, in its bill form, has been controversial since its introduction and has attracted significant critique from various stakeholders. It is therefore likely that the Act will be the subject of fierce litigation, sooner or later.

Insurance claims can be repudiated for many varying reasons – from the most obvious to the least expected reasons. One of the best ways of trying to avoid an insurance repudiation is to understand your contractual duties stemming from your policy.

There have been reports regarding the rise of non-indemnity claims stemming from unnatural deaths. This is certainly worrying for life insurers. This is particularly concerning because life insurers have had to entertain several claims in the past couple of years due to COVID-19 related deaths, and subsequently, the July 2021 unrest and the 2022 Durban floods.

The news that dominated the headlines during the weekend of 15 – 17 September 2023, was the storm surge incidents that swept across three coastal provinces – the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal. Mainstream media and social media alike were abuzz with the news. Since then, videos depicting the storm surges have been circulating across various media platforms.

It is becoming normal to wake up to reports of fires - since the July 2021 civil unrest there have been at least a further four major fire outbreaks reported.

During the first wave of infections in South Africa, there were several allegations of negligence in various institutions leading to 'mass infections' – for example, amongst others, the Saint Augustine Private Hospital incident in KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.