Nedbank Insurance is the worst

It is common knowledge that on the 11th of June 2023, Boksburg was hit by a magnitude 5 Earthquake. We bought a house in Boksburg in 2022 which is financed and insured by Nedbank Insurance. When the earthquake struck, we suffered some damages. We have walls that cracked both in the house as well as our parameter wall. Some of our cornices separated from the walls. Our fish pond got cracked and is currently leaking resulting in the inability to keep the water clean and balanced leading to losing some of our koi fish and constantly having to top up the water running our water bill high. Our wooden floor started separating. With All these losses, we submitted a claim with Nedbank Insurance on the 12th of June 2023 (The day after the earthquake). This claim not only took almost 3 months for Nedbank Insurance to finalize but they rejected the claim.

These are the reasons quoted by Nedbank Insurance:

3.2 General Exclusions: - Loss or damage resulting from pre-existing conditions. - Cracking or collapse of the insured property, unless caused by an insured event specified under insured events in section 3.1. 3.2 General Exclusions: - Loss or damage caused by wear and tear, depreciation, gradual deterioration or other gradually operating causes, including rising damp, atmospheric conditions or moisture.

Here's the problem with that: Nedbank themselves inspected this house when we bought it in 2022 and none of these cracks existed. The parameter wall in question was built from scratch in November 2022. The house was painted in November of 2022. If these cracks were pre-existing, then there would be paint in the cracks (common sense). But then Nedbank Insurance made their decision without a structural engineer being sent for any assessment even though we were promised that they would send one. A decision was made after a visit from the loss adjuster who came to see the cracks and take photos.