https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Ford’s R1m offer a slap in the face, says Reshall Jimmy’s family

25th May 2017

By: African News Agency

  

Font size: - +

The family of Reshall Jimmy, who died after his Ford Kuga burst into flames in December 2015, revealed on Thursday that they had felt deeply insulted by the company’s offer of another Ford vehicle, valued up to R1 million.

Renisha Jimmy, Reshall’s sister, said outgoing Ford sub-Saharan Africa region chief executive Jeff Nemeth proposed a replacement of the charred vehicle to the grieving family, but the offer was turned down out of hand.

“How do you compensate someone’s life to the value of a car? I thought that was so disrespectful to my family. It was a sort of a slap to both sides of our faces. That is how I felt. How dare you offer us a vehicle, the brand in which my brother’s life was lost in,” Renisha said as she addressed journalists in Pretoria.

“Reshall burnt to death. I am sure, picking up from the bits and pieces from his autopsy, you understand the magnitude of how badly he was burnt. If his skull fractured, and his elbows burst – that tells you how bad the extent of that fire [was]. How dare you offer us a vehicle and think that we are gonna be happy sitting in this car because Ford offered it to us? No.”

Renisha said she had wept at the meeting when Ford made the proposition.

“I sat there in tears. Tears rolled down my face and I looked at him as said ‘you told me that you were going to give us closure. How could you do this? No mother deserves to know such graphic, gruesome details of her son’s autopsy,” she said.

The Jimmy family was updating media on the engagements they had had after news emerged recently that Nemeth, who had been the chief liaison between his company and the family, was returning to Detroit, United States.

“When we heard that he is leaving the country, I contacted him and asked if he could please introduce us to Mr Casper Kruger [Nemeth’s replacement], and whether he would be taking over discussions regarding Reshall’s matter because it is ongoing and we are not sure where to from here. He asked if we would like a meeting with him, to assist us to move forward. I agreed and then spoke to [independent forensic consultant] Dr [David] Klatzow and our attorney Rod [Montano],” said Renisha.

“He played the religion factor with me, making it seem as though he is trying to redeem himself. He went to the extent of saying he feels that Reshall is haunting him, that he was close and attached to Reshall and he needed to give us closure. He said I do not know how this matter has affected him, the impact it has had on him and his life. He said his family had been affected, his kids had to be taken off social media and he really wanted us to come to some solution.”

Renisha said Nemeth convinced her, speaking “a lot about God and asked that he includes the archbishop in this meeting”.

“He thereafter asked that I should allow him to meet my mom in that meeting which included the archbishop. My mom is very reluctant to meet him, and it took a lot of convincing. I really thought that Jeff Nemeth wanted to give our family closure. He committed to do so.”

In the days leading to the meeting, which took place Johannesburg on Friday, Renisha said Nemeth told her that he had the mandate to settle the matter from the automobile manufacturers’ bigwigs in Detroit.

“He told us that they are offering us a car. My mum was very emotional prior to that. She was crying and she kept trying to convince him that Reshall was such a good person and he would never have done anything wrong. She asked them why did Ford make rumours that he [Reshall] had committed suicide. I had never seen my mom cry like that, even at Reshall’s funeral. She was so emotional,” said Renisha.

Renisha, the youngest of the Jimmy siblings, said their family had been trying to “protect” their mother ever since the incident happened in December 2015.

It is almost a year and a half since Reshall died after his car caught fire as he was driving. The 33-year-old was on holiday in the Wilderness when the incident happened. He was burnt beyond recognition. Another 40 other incidents of the Kuga SUV catching alight on South African roads emerged, sparking public outrage.

In January, Ford Southern Africa announced the recall of the controversial Ford Kuga 1. 6 SUV as part of a “safety recall”.

Edited by African News Agency

Comments

Showroom

Alco-Safe
Alco-Safe

An unmanned breathalyser that is made to be tough and simple to use. Can be used in any environment for operator-free breathalyser testing.

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.077 0.128s - 137pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now