Rand Mines Power Supply Co Ltd v Johannesburg Municipality ; Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Co Ltd v Johannesburg Municipality [1911] ZATPD 165 (14 December 1911)

Municipality -Rates - Rateable Property - User of Mining Land for Conveying Electricity - Method of Valuation - "Buildings" - "Immovable Property" - Ord.43 of 1903, secs.3 and 7 - Act 35 of
1908, sec.74(1) - Act 25 of 1909, sec.35 (d)

The exercise of a right to convey electricity over land held under mining title by affixing poles to the land or running pipes over or under the surface of the land is a user of the land within the meaning of sec.3(B)(5) of Ord.43 of 1903.

The holder of rights under sec.74(1) of Act 35 of 1908, being surface rights of ground held under mining title within the meaning of ch.9 of that Act, who is registered as the holder thereof at the Mining Titles Office under sec.35(d) of Act 25 of 1909 is the owner
of such rights within the meaning of sec.3(B) of Ord.43 of 1903.

The rateable value of the user of land held under mining title for the purpose of conveying electricity over or under it, calculated under sec.7 of Ord.43 of 1903, is not the value of the said land together with any special value which it would have to the owner of the right of user on the assumption that he could get no other suitable land.
(The principle of London County Council vs Erith Churchwardens, 1893, A.O. 502 discussed).

Pipe lines, cable lines, and poles erected on land for the purpose of conveying electricity are not rateable as "buildings" within the meaning of sec.3 of Ord.43 of 1903.

Whether materials annexed to the soil are "immovable" is a question of fact depending upon their mode and extent of annexation to the land and the purpose of such annexation, i.e., whether for the permanent and substantial improvement of the land or merely the more complete use of the material as such.