The Net That Is Vicarious Liability Widens? Stallion Security (Pty) Ltd v Van Staden

The respondent in this appeal, van Staden, as plaintiff, instituted action against the appellant, Stallion Security, as defendant, in the South Gauteng Division of the High Court. She claimed for loss of support resulting from the murder of her husband by a former employee of Stallion Security, one Ronald Mkhululi Khumalo. Van Staden claimed that Stallion Security was vicariously liable for the wrongful murder of her husband committed by Khumalo and consequently, her loss of financial support from him.

Facts

Stallion Security had been contracted to provide access control to Bidvest Panalpina Logistics (Pty) Ltd's premises. A biometric security system controlled entry into and out of the premises and recorded all such activity. Stallion Security's guards had no access into the premises save for its site supervisor and site manager.

At the time of this incident, Khumalo was a site manager, responsible for overseeing security personnel and operations at three separate Bidvest premises, namely two warehouses and the head office. His duties included the inspection of security guards on duty by way of unannounced visits and inspections of the interior of the building. He was provided with an override key which allowed him access into the building without the use of the biometric system and without record of such entry. Khumalo was the only one entrusted with the use of the override key by Stallion Security.

Khumalo knew that the deceased worked at the head office; that he left the office quite late on a daily basis; and that Bidvest kept petty cash in the building. On the night of the incident, he broke into the head office using the override key and demanded R50 000.00 from the deceased at gunpoint using a firearm which he "hired" from a colleague employed at Stallion Security. The deceased said he only had R35 000.00 in his account and that he did not have access to the company safe.

Khumalo insisted that the deceased transfer the R35 000.00 into his account and proceeded to force the deceased to drive them towards the Eastgate shopping complex in the deceased's car . When he realised that the deceased would call the police, he shot him in the back of the head and attempted to run away. He was apprehended soon thereafter only to escape from custody. Ultimately he was presumed dead.

Despite noting that Khumalo's intentional wrongs were committed entirely for his own interests and purposes, the court a quo held that because there is a...