Wessels v Pretorius

A sixteen-year-old, unlicensed driver (Albert Wessels) drove his father’s bakkie with teenage friends as passengers on a public gravel road. While driving, Albert performed a dangerous ‘handbrake turn’, causing one passenger, Benjamin Pretorius (almost 17), to be thrown from the open back of the vehicle and severely injured. The father, Stephanus Wessels, had allowed his son access to the vehicle. The injured passenger sued both on the basis of Albert’s negligent driving and the father’s personal negligence in permitting his immature, unlicensed son to drive unsupervised in circumstances where peer pressure and risky behaviour were foreseeable.

The appeal was dismissed with costs, including the costs of two counsel. The father was held personally liable, subject to apportionment of damages (65% Albert, 35% Benjamin).

The case is a leading South African authority on negligent entrustment and parental liability in delict. It clarifies that parents may be personally liable where they allow minors access to dangerous instrumentalities like motor vehicles in circumstances where immaturity and peer pressure make harm foreseeable. The judgment extends delictual principles beyond vicarious liability and underscores foreseeability and control in negligence analysis.