THE civil action by local company Boland Towing CC against the SA Towing and Recovery Association (Satra), has been dismissed with costs in the Cape High Court.
This follows Satra’s suspension of Boland Towing’s membership in April 2005 due to this company’s alleged ‘ongoing unethical and unacceptable’ behaviour.
Boland Towing was required to remove their Satra decals from their tow trucks immediately
Satra chairman, André van der Merwe, then apologised to the motoring public in the Boland “who have fallen victim to this company’s behaviour”.
Said van der Merwe in 2005: “Satra also advises that it has every intention of eliminating such ‘vultures’ from the towing industry and asks that the community support us in such endeavours by not using the services of Boland Towing CC.
“We are advising our business partners accordingly and more particularly the AA, who we are sure will not want to continue their relationship with such an individual.
“There are other ethical Satra members who trade in the Paarl area and we request the motoring public to call 0861-072-872 and we will dispatch these members to assist at fair and reasonable prices.”
Following this report, the owner of Boland Towing, Jacques Terblanche, instituted legal steps against Satra for defamation.
His application was dismissed with costs on 22 October last year, with a very substantial cost order against him.
Said one member of the public who had complained about Boland Towing’s activities, “Terblanche and Co were given a severe financial blood nose - both real and poetic justice have been served!”
* Terblanche was found guilty of assault and malicious damage to property in September last year.
This conviction stems from an incident in 2006 when an opposition towing operator, Ronald Kuhn of Paarlberg Towing, was assaulted while towing a vehicle away from an accident scene.
Terblanche and various of his employees forced Kuhn off the Parys Road, beat him with a sjambuck and broke a window of his vehicle.
Terblanche was fined R1000 for assault and a further R1000 for malicious damage, while his partners in crime, Stephen Daniels and Godleigh Dippenaar, were respectively fined R2000 and R1000, for assault.
During sentencing Magistrate van Driel described the actions of Terblanche and his employees as that of vultures feeding. He furthermore asked that they behave themselves more civilly in the future.
Niel Steyl of Paarlberg Towing said that he is now bringing action against Terblanche involving the R5000 excess payment on the insurance of his damaged vehicle . His insurance broker is sueing Terblance for R18 000.
Shortly after the incident in which Kuhn was assaulted, Terblanche and his men were at it again.
Another driver of Paarlberg Towing, Eric Coetzee, asked for Kuhn’s assistance with the towing of a vehicle which had rolled on the N1.
While they were busy, Terblanche and his men allegedly arrived on the scene and started to manhandle Kuhn once again.
They wanted to unhitch the vehicle from the Paarlberg tow-truck, but were eventually stopped by a traffic officer.
Terblanche has previously also been charged with the assault of a police officer.
The assault case was settled when he agreed to replace the police officer’s glasses, which he had broken.
* One of Terblanche’s employees recently landed behind bars for the possession of a stolen police radio.
Dewald Esterhuizen was arrested after the police became suspicious of his activities and set a trap for him.
The radio, which was stolen at an accident scene on the N1 near Klapmuts, was found on him.
Esterhuizen was found guilty of this offence and fined R1500.
