Damaged luggage

A colleague and I flew from Lanseria to Durban on 18 Oct to write an exam. We both had microscopes which we needed to transport. The microscopes were small but each weighed about 16kg. We went to the check in counter and told the Kulula representative that these cases containing the microscopes needed to be kept with us on the plane. He told us that they were too heavy and needed to be checked in to the fragile cargo hold. We paid R385 each for this. We were told that the bags would be taken from us as we boarded and returned to us as soon as we landed. At Durban airport we waited for approximately 15 minutes for our bags to be returned. I eventually climbed onto the tarmac and was told that we would find the bags on the carousel. To cut a long story short, both microscopes we severely damaged, despite fragile stickers being placed all over the cases. I called the Kulula baggage dept at King Shaka and was told that Kulula takes absolutely no responsibility for damaged baggage. I told the lady that I was promised that the bags would be returned to us on landing. She again took to responsibility. This is entirely unacceptable. I expect to hear from someone in senior management ASAP.