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Citation
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Judgment date
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| May 2024 |
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Whether a shareholder retains locus standi under s 163 after a deemed forced sale: first applicant retained standing, second did not.
Companies Act s 163 — locus standi — only shareholders may seek relief under s 163; standing assessed at time of launching proceedings; deemed forced sale provisions challengeable where they form subject-matter of pending litigation; amendments may be permitted despite transfers if no substantive prejudice; costs awarded on scale B.
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30 May 2024 |
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Reported
Provisional liquidation refused where alleged unlawful competition claims were bona fide disputed and disgorgement claims lie against the employee personally.
Companies — Winding up — Just and equitable ground — Unlawful competition alone not established ground; proven debt from unlawful competition may suffice. Companies — Locus standi — Contingent/prospective creditor — vinculum iuris by attribution/alter‑ego. Attribution — Sole director/shareholder as directing mind — company’s acts attributable. Disgorgement — Secret profits from employee’s breach of fiduciary duty lie against employee personally. Civil procedure — Provisional liquidation — Badenhorst rule: refuse where debt genuinely disputed on reasonable grounds.
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30 May 2024 |
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Court grants urgent relocation of child to Germany as being in the child’s best interests, dismissing the father’s counterclaim.
Family law – relocation of minor – best interests of the child paramount – consideration of child’s views, expert reports, schooling and language integration. Relocation – good faith and reasonableness of parent’s motive. School placement – necessity of child’s presence for German enrolment and integration programmes accommodating non‑German speakers. Timing – urgency justified to enable commencement of foreign academic year. Contact – post-relocation parenting/contact plan endorsed by experts.
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30 May 2024 |
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Late, last-minute Rule 6(5)(g) referral refused; interim interdict pending leave to appeal dismissed with costs.
• Civil procedure – Rule 6(5)(g) – referral to oral evidence – stringent test: real, material dispute not amenable to affidavit determination; must conduce to an effective and speedy resolution. • Urgency – proper management: nominate hearing date and truncated timetables; late tactical referral disfavoured. • Interim interdicts – not generally granted pending applications for leave to appeal interlocutory rulings; court requires prima facie right/prospects tied to the substantive proceedings. • Abuse of process and conduct in motion proceedings may justify refusal of referral.
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29 May 2024 |
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Divorce granted; spousal maintenance refused; R4,000 child support; pensions retained; property division adjusted for minor.
Family law – divorce on irretrievable breakdown; parental responsibilities – approval of parenting plan; maintenance – spousal maintenance refused, child maintenance set at R4,000 CPI-indexed; forfeiture – court declines applicant’s forfeiture of M[] property, awards S[] property to respondent; pensions retained by each spouse; sale of residence delayed to protect minor’s interests; costs mostly each party to bear, respondent to pay wasted postponement costs.
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28 May 2024 |
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Owner liable for prepaid electricity fixed charges, but municipality may recover only the three-year prescri bed period.
Municipal law – owner liability for consumption charges – owner as 'customer' where no occupier; duty to select and monitor tenants and utility arrangements; owner bears incidental risk. Prepaid electricity meters – daily fixed charges accrue and may continue after tenant vacates; municipality may refuse removal until arrears settled as incidental power for credit-control. Prescription – electricity and water charges prescribe after three years; amounts older than three years are not recoverable. Administrative law/municipal credit control – municipality obliged to act reasonably and in line with governance, but may employ measures to secure payment.
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27 May 2024 |
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Spoliation claim dismissed for failure to prove exclusive/quasi‑possession, deficient evidence, and impracticality of the order.
Property law – mandament van spolie – requirement of possession or quasi‑possession (gebruikersreg) and wrongful dispossession; joinder and amendment of process; admissibility and sufficiency of affidavit evidence; practicality/enforceability of spoliation orders.
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27 May 2024 |
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Applicant lawfully disqualified for material non‑compliance with mandatory tender documentary requirements.
Administrative law – Public procurement – Mandatory pre‑qualification and responsiveness criteria – Tender disqualification for material non‑compliance with documentary requirements. Procurement law – Functionality thresholds – Requirement to submit specified source documents and reference letters to prove experience. Labour/NBC documentation – Distinction between NBC registration certificates and letters of good standing; certificate mandatory for responsiveness. Clarification/condonation – No general duty to seek clarification or condone material non‑compliance absent express discretion or immateriality.
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24 May 2024 |
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Lease validly terminated; eviction granted as just and equitable with four‑month suspension and conditional costs.
Eviction – PIE s 4(7) – court must consider just and equitable factors including municipal housing report and rights of children; notices compliant with lease deemed received. Month‑to‑month tenancy lawfully terminated by 30‑day notice – unlawful occupation found. Court may decline to compel mediation – may grant eviction with suspended execution period. Costs ordered against respondent but suspended pending compliance.
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21 May 2024 |
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Appellate court upheld rape conviction based on credible single child witness, supporting medical and circumstantial evidence.
Criminal law – Sexual offences – Rape of child – Single child witness: application of cautionary principles, trustworthiness and capacity to narrate. Delay in reporting – Delay explained by fear, threats and trauma; statute and case law preclude adverse inference solely from delay. Corroboration – Medical J88 (non‑intact hymen) and circumstantial evidence (bloodied sheet, victim’s description) supportive. Alibi/incarceration – Periods of custody did not create reasonable doubt where charge pleaded "upon or about/during" a month and date uncertainty was plausible.
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20 May 2024 |
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PAJA review dismissed for unreasonable delay; applicants failed to prove entitlement or procedural unfairness.
Administrative law – PAJA s 7(1) time limit and s 9 extension – undue delay fatal to review; municipal housing – Unlawful Occupation Policy – normalisation of tenancy; procedural fairness – requirement to identify mandatory procedure for review; entitlement to municipal tenancy/transfer.
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20 May 2024 |
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Court convicts accused 1–3 of multiple human‑trafficking and related offences; victim-assessment procedures not prerequisite to prosecution.
Human trafficking – elements: act, means, purpose – exploitation need not be actualized; procedural victim-recognition under HT Act not prerequisite to prosecution; indictment drafting errors not per se fatal; credibility assessment and mosaic approach to evidence; convictions on multiple trafficking, exploitation and related counts; separate conviction for dealing in drugs.
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17 May 2024 |
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Urgency refused where applicant’s delay, procedural non-compliance and alternative Family Advocate process made redress available in due course.
Family law — Urgency — Uniform Rule 6(12) and Practice Directives — self-created urgency — substantial redress in due course; procedural compliance (practice note, indexed papers); Family Advocate investigation as alternative remedy; immediate return of children and school enrolment issues made moot.
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14 May 2024 |
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Applicant's deception, inconsistencies and credible risks to witnesses and trial justified dismissal of bail appeal.
Criminal procedure – Schedule 5 bail application – s60(11) onus on accused; s60(4) grounds for refusal (endangerment, evasion, witness interference, jeopardising justice). Credibility and dishonesty central in paper‑based bail proceedings; new‑facts applications require genuinely new and relevant information. Court may undertake its own analysis on appeal if lower court not plainly wrong.
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13 May 2024 |
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Reported
An Equality Court cannot exercise High Court jurisdiction absent parallel proceedings; applicant failed to establish harassment or discrimination.
Equality Court jurisdiction – s 20 of Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act – Equality Court is a special-purpose forum and cannot assume High Court jurisdiction absent parallel High Court proceedings (Manong SCA); Harassment and discrimination – definition under Equality Act (persistent or serious) – claimant must adduce facts enabling a plausible inference of discrimination (Nedbank SCA); School language policy – home languages permitted outside class; bare allegations insufficient for prima facie case.
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8 May 2024 |
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Court declared irregular appointments invalid but, as a just and equitable remedy, declined to set them aside.
Administrative law – principle of legality – appointments by acting official lacking delegated authority – declaration of invalidity under s172(1)(a) – discretion under s172(1)(b) to set aside or not – factors: bona fide error, fair process, reliance, prejudice to appointees, institutional interests and deterrence.
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8 May 2024 |
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A purported director without shareholder/liquidator consent lacked authority to institute business rescue; replacement director and attorneys authorised.
Corporate and insolvency law – business rescue vs liquidation – effect of business rescue application where liquidation proceedings exist; liquidators’ powers over subsidiaries. Rule 7 High Court Rules – challenge to authority of persons/attorneys acting for a party – onus to satisfy court of authority. Corporate governance – validity of director appointment by written shareholder consent; bylaws and shareholder control; when a self-appointment is invalid. Evidence – application of Plascon-Evans where disputes of fact on affidavits exist. Pleadings – allegations of forgery/fraud that are speculative may be struck as vexatious and scandalous.
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7 May 2024 |
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Court accepts plaintiffs’ expert on deceased’s earning trajectory, sets income, dependency ages, contingencies, and directs actuarial calculation.
Delict — Loss of support after fatal shooting by SAPS member — Assessment of deceased’s income and probable career path — Expert evidence on earning capacity accepted — Allocation of income between spouse and children — Age of dependency and contingency deductions determined — Actuarial computation directed.
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7 May 2024 |
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Rule 43 application adjudicated amidst jurisdiction and procedural compliance challenges, with interim relief proceedings held appropriate.
Family Law – Maintenance pendente lite – Rule 43 application – Jurisdiction of South African courts – Lis Pendens – Compliance with procedural rules
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6 May 2024 |
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Reported
Applicants failed to establish a prima facie right for interim interdicts pending PAJA review; applications dismissed.
Administrative law — Interim interdicts — Prima facie right must be same as, or affected by, right to be vindicated in main proceedings — Review under PAJA concerns section 33 only; unrelated constitutional or public-interest rights cannot found interim relief — Condonation: deliberate and unexplained delay, prejudice defeats condonation — Biowatch principle applied to ancillary interim relief costs.
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2 May 2024 |
