Litigation is pending if the court still has the power to hear it and dispose of it. The pending proceeding remains undecided or is awaiting a decision or settlement.

This principle also applies to administrative tribunals.

In Malebane v Dykema the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act 2013 included transitional provisions that ‘all applications, appeals or other matters pending before a tribunal’ had to be continued and disposed of under the previous provisions in the Development Facilitation Act of 1995. However, the Tribunal in question had ceased to have any authority to determine the application and there were therefore no pending proceedings.