Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa - 1965

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10 judgments

Citation	Judgment date
November 1965
Mahlalela v S (159/65) [1965] ZASCA 1 (5 November 1965) Intent to kill not proved; herbalist's expertise made death foreseeable, so murder reduced to culpable homicide with 18-month sentence. Criminal law – poisoning – plant-derived poison may cause death though chemical tests are negative; credibility of child and blind witnesses upheld; absence of proof of dolus for murder; professional knowledge of herbalist can establish foreseeability and culpable homicide.	5 November 1965
S v Khuzwayo and Another (156/65) [1965] ZASCA 3 (2 November 1965) Whether eyewitness identification in a sudden, chaotic assault sufficed to uphold murder convictions. Criminal law – Identification evidence – reliability where witnesses had been drinking, attack was sudden and brief, and co‑accused were acquitted; alibi evaluation; mandatory sentence for murder (no extenuation).	2 November 1965
June 1965
Hitzeroth v Brooks (271/64) [1965] ZASCA 9 (4 June 1965) Whether a renewal notice was timeously given and whether an unregistered cession bound a widow married in community. Lease – construction of lease term and renewal clause; renewal notice held late where original term ended 31 Aug 1961 – cession/assignment of lease – unregistered cession after commencement of Act 50 of 1956 – surviving spouse married in community not a "third party" under s.2 – ratification and acceptance of rentals binds successor-owner – ejectment ordered.	4 June 1965
South African Railways and Harbours v Reed (300/64) [1965] ZASCA 7 (2 June 1965) Whether failure to illuminate a rural level crossing was negligent in causing a pedestrian’s injury. Delict — Negligence — Omission to provide illumination at rural unguarded level crossing — Application of diligens paterfamilias test — Foreseeability and remoteness of risk — No duty to illuminate where likelihood of harm is negligible and pedestrian familiar with crossing; contributory conduct considered.	2 June 1965
Van Aswegen v Lombard (269/64) [1965] ZASCA 5 (2 Junie 1965) A bona fide agreement to compensate a non‑subpoenaed expert for loss and expenses can be enforceable despite witness‑fee tariffs. Witness fees – statutory tariff – enforceability of agreements to pay experts above tariff – contra bonos mores where witness under duty – distinction for voluntary (non‑subpoenaed) experts – recoverable items include bona fide loss of income, travel/accommodation and reasonable preparation time.	2 June 1965
May 1965
Bernardus v S (299/64) [1965] ZASCA 8 (20 May 1965) Versari doctrine rejected; culpable homicide requires foreseeability, but conviction upheld on the evidence. Criminal law — culpable homicide — foreseeability (culpa) required where death follows unlawful assault — versari in re illicita rejected — appellate review under s369(1): whether evidence unaffected by defect proves guilt beyond reasonable doubt.	20 May 1965
April 1965
Mbambo and Another v S (239/64) [1965] ZASCA 12 (1 April 1965) Whether medical and circumstantial evidence established which injury caused death and each appellant's individual criminal liability. Criminal law – causation and proof of cause of death – distinguishing ante-mortem and post-mortem wounds – common purpose – liability where multiple assailants inflict different injuries – substitution of verdict and sentence on appeal.	1 April 1965
Pan American World Airways Inc v South African Fire and Accident Insurance Co Ltd (236/64) [1965] ZASCA 11 (1 April 1965) Whether international postal and air conventions limit an air carrier's liability and the pleading needed to invoke Warsaw Convention protection. Carriage by air — liability for loss of goods — Universal Postal Convention (Art. 71) governs relations between postal administrations and does not, without more, confer the administrations' limited indemnity on private carriers — Bilateral air services agreements and domestic regulation do not automatically convert a designated private carrier into the designating State's postal administration — Warsaw Convention (Articles 5, 8, 9, 24) — air consignment note as prerequisite to invoke Convention exclusions/limitations — pleadings: necessity to allege a duly completed consignment note to rely on Article 9 sanction.	1 April 1965
March 1965
Hayward Young and Company (Proprietary) Limited v Municipality of City of Port Elizabeth (151/64) [1965] ZASCA 10 (26 March 1965) Whether an Administrator's approvals for municipal railway-service levies were in terms of statute and sufficiently certain. Municipal law – Levy under statutory power to recover costs of railway service lines – Construction of statutory phrase "served, or ... capable of being served" – Validity of Administrator's approval – Administrative certainty – "extraordinary circumstances" as fact-specific exemption criterion.	26 March 1965
Secretary for Inland Revenue v Cadac Engineering Works (Pty) Ltd (219/64) [1965] ZASCA 4 (15 March 1965) Costs of litigation aimed at eliminating a competitor and protecting goodwill are capital, not deductible, expenditure. Tax law – classification of expenditure as capital or revenue – litigation costs incurred to eliminate competitor and protect/expand goodwill – question of law where all facts found – New State Areas test applied.	15 March 1965