In May 2021, the Supreme Court of Appeal delivered a judgment with two important principles namely: The High Court has jurisdiction to make a forfeiture order in terms of section 50(1)(b) of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, 1998 (POCA) in respect of property situated outside the territory of South Africa and belonging to persons … Continue reading
SCA gives clarity on the meaning of conflict of interest for business rescue practitioners In February 2018, eight companies in the Oakbay Group were placed in voluntary business rescue. Amongst these companies were the first respondent, Tegeta Exploration and Resources (Pty) Ltd, and its three subsidiaries, Optimum Coal Mine (Pty) Ltd (OCM), Koornfontein Mines (Pty) … Continue reading
The High Court has handed down judgement in proceedings involving Primedia (Pty) Ltd, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and others in March 2021. The court has held that a tender had to be set aside because: Prasa, as a public body which knew that the tenderer did not exist when the tender closed, … Continue reading
In March 2021, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) handed down judgment with two important findings regarding a bank’s obligations to a third party, namely: a bank is not entitled to set-off the customer’s debts to the bank against amounts reflecting to the credit of a customer, if the bank knows that a third party … Continue reading
A full bench of the High Court in Cape Town has handed down a punitive cost order against unrepresented applicants – an unusual move considering the more lenient approach our courts usually show unrepresented litigants. The Cassiems had instituted proceedings against the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) before various forums with “ostensible impunity”. In 2018 … Continue reading
The Budget Speech delivered by the Minister of Finance on 24 February 2021 cast some light on what developments we can expect on the public procurement front in South Africa. The government spends close to a trillion rands on public procurement which accounts for approximately one fifth of South Africa’s gross domestic product, and is … Continue reading
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Investec Bank Limited v Erf 436 Elandspoort (Pty) Ltd and Others gave useful examples of what constitutes a tacit acknowledgement of liability (which interrupts the running of prescription of a debt in terms of section 14 of the Prescription Act 1969). The case involved a debt related to … Continue reading
The Supreme Court of Appeal held that a public authority may not exercise powers which are not given to it by the express wording of its empowering statute. The relevant empowering provision in the Medical Schemes Act gives the Registrar the power to decide whether a medical scheme’s proposed name is likely to mislead the … Continue reading
Almost two years after the landmark Constitutional Court judgment legalising the private use of cannabis, the Bill regulating Cannabis for Private Purposes has been introduced. The Bill arrives just in time to meet the deadline set by the Constitutional Court in September 2018 and follows the trail blazed by other countries in legalising cannabis for … Continue reading
A cyclist who suffered electrical burns after coming into contact with a low-hanging powerline had not entered into a transaction with Eskom, nor was he the beneficiary of the electricity supplied. There was no supplier-consumer relationship, as required for a product defect claim under s61(1)(b) of the Consumer Protection Act 2008. This was the finding … Continue reading