With effect from 27 October 2025, the Mediation Directives and Protocol for the Gauteng Division of the High Court were amended. The most important change is the introduction of alternative routes to obtaining a hearing date.
Disputes which cannot be resolved by mediation
Where a dispute is incapable of being resolved by mediation because of
Effective from 22 April 2025, the Office of the Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court issued a Directive introducing mandatory mediation in the Gauteng Division, together with a Mediation Protocol. The Directive provides that mediation in civil trials is now mandatory in the Division.
The effect on trial dates
In the transitional
An amendment to the High Court Rules (Rule 41A) which came into effect from 9 March 2020 has made it mandatory for parties to consider mediation at the outset of any contemplated litigation.
There are a number of judgments where the courts have censured the parties’ and their representatives’ failure to consider alternative dispute resolution
Successful mediation of any dispute is largely dependent on the skills and expertise of the mediator and the willingness and good faith of the parties to the mediation to engage in that process.
So it is to be welcomed that the proposed new High Court Rule 41A doesn’t make mediation compulsory but is rather intended