Noncebo Nhlapo claimed more than
R2 million in damages from Mtshengu Zimu, 53, after he had asked for her hand in marriage, but later found greener pastures.
However, the judge turned down her R2m claim for the “prospective losses” as Mrs Zimu, as it could set a bad prece-
dent, reports the Pretoria News.
Judge Leicester Adams said to hold a party liable for contractual damages for breach of promise to marry could lead to parties entering into marriages they did not really want to enter into, purely due to the fear of being faced with a claim.
“This is an untenable situation; breach of promise to marry no longer forms part of our law,” the judge said.
Nhlapo proved she incurred costs in preparation for their “long and happy life together” by buying a bed and sprucing up their home.
But Judge Adams, sitting in the Gauteng High Court, in Pretoria, found some of the principles on which these claims were determined in the past, were now outdated.
He awarded the woman R25 000 damages for her injured feelings after Zimu summarily kicked her out, and took her back to her mom’s house, and R98 149 - half of the expenses the couple incurred for receiving in vitro treatment.
Zimu, who fathered a child with his new girlfriend, did not testify, but said in his written plea he never promised to marry the woman.