Case Law[2022] ZAGPJHC 683South Africa
S v S (born R) (42712/2018) [2022] ZAGPJHC 683 (14 September 2022)
Headnotes
Summary: Practice – Judgments and orders – variation of – actio communi dividundo – divorce order ‘by default’ against defendant at variance with relief claimed in summons – Defendant applying in terms of Rule 42(1)(a) for judgment to be varied so that judgment accord with relief sought in summons - Rule 42(1)(a) operates where order granted by court different to the one sought by plaintiff – also an order is granted erroneously if it is vague – application granted.
Judgment
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# South Africa: South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg
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## S v S (born R) (42712/2018) [2022] ZAGPJHC 683 (14 September 2022)
S v S (born R) (42712/2018) [2022] ZAGPJHC 683 (14 September 2022)
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sino date 14 September 2022
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REPUBLIC OF SOUTH
AFRICA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF
SOUTH AFRICA
GAUTENG DIVISION,
JOHANNESBURG
CASE
NO
:
42712/2018
REPORTABLE:
NO
OF
INTEREST TO OTHER JUDGES:
NO
REVISED:
Yes
Date:
14
th
September 2022
In the matter between:
S
[....]1
, D [....] A [....]
Plaintiff
and
S
[....]2
(born
R
[....]
), H [....]
Defendant
Heard
:
20 April 2022 – The ‘virtual hearing’ of this
opposed application was conducted as a videoconference on
Microsoft
Teams
.
Delivered:
14 September 2022 – This judgment was handed down
electronically by circulation to the parties' representatives by
email,
by being uploaded to
CaseLines
and by release to
SAFLII. The date and time for hand-down is deemed to be 14:30 on 14
September 2022.
Summary:
Practice – Judgments and orders –
variation of –
actio communi
dividundo
– divorce order ‘by
default’ against defendant at variance with relief claimed in
summons – Defendant applying
in terms of Rule 42(1)(a) for
judgment to be varied so that judgment accord with relief sought in
summons - Rule 42(1)(a) operates
where order granted by court
different to the one sought by plaintiff – also an order is
granted erroneously if it is vague
– application granted
.
ORDER
(1)
The Order of this Court (per Malungana AJ)
dated 16 February 2021 be and is hereby varied in terms of Uniform
Rule of Court 42(1)(a)
by the deletion of prayer (3) of the said
order in its entirety and by the replacement thereof by the following
orders:
‘
(3)
It is confirmed that the joint ownership of the parties in the
immovable property known as Erf [....], Malvern
East Extension,
Germiston, situate at [....] S [....] Road, Malvern East,
Germiston (the Germiston property), is terminated
in terms of the
actio communi dividundo
.
(4)
Unless the plaintiff and the defendant
reach agreement in writing within one month from date of this order,
on all aspects related
to the termination of the co-ownership, then
and in such event, a liquidator is to be appointed by the attorney
representing the
plaintiff and the attorney representing the
defendant. If agreement cannot be reached between the attorneys
representing the parties
on the liquidator to be appointed, they
should each nominate two possible candidates, and the Court will
appoint from such nomination
the liquidator.
(5)
In the event of a liquidator being
appointed, each party shall be liable in equal shares for the
liquidator's fee.
(6)
The liquidator shall be empowered and
directed to give oversight and effect to the following, that:
(a)
The property be valued by an independent
valuer.
(b)
Immediately upon receipt of such valuation,
that the property shall be placed on the open market to be sold at
the valuation price,
by an estate agent or estate agents of the
liquidator's choice.
(c)
A firm of Attorneys, to be nominated by the
Liquidator at his sole discretion, shall be appointed as conveyancers
for both parties,
who will give effect to the sale as follows,
namely:
i.The
collection of the full purchase price.
ii.The
cancellation and discharge of the mortgage bond (if any).
iii.The
discharge of any further obligations on the property in respect of
rates, taxes, estate agent's commission, and the like.
iv.The
distribution to both parties of the net residue to be determined in
accordance with the provisions of [33.4.4] below.
v.Immediately
after the registration of the transfer of the property into a
purchaser's name and after all costs relating to the
marketing, sale
and transfer of the property, including (but without limitation)
estate agent's commission, any amount which may
be owing to the
plaintiff as allegedly being equivalent to any amount paid by the
plaintiff in excess of his half share of the
costs of the Germiston
Property, but also taking into account any benefit derived by him
from the property such as rent-free occupation
thereof or the
collection of rental from tenants (if any), and the liquidator's
fees, have been paid —a 50% portion of the
net proceeds of the
sale of the property is to be paid to the plaintiff; a 50% portion of
the net proceeds of the sale of the property
is to be paid to the
defendant.
(7)
For so long as the plaintiff resides in the
property, he is ordered and directed to pay timeously all water,
electricity and municipal
fees in respect of the property;
alternatively, and in the event that the property is vacant, that the
applicant and first respondent
be liable to pay, in equal portions,
all applicable water, electricity and municipal and other charges,
costs and amounts relating
to, or associated with, the property until
such time as the property has been transferred.
(8)
The parties are directed to give their full
co-operation in order to facilitate the marketing, sale and/or
disposal of the property,
including giving the estate agent/s access
to the property for viewings and signing all documents necessary to
give effect to the
sale and registration of the property.
(9)
The sheriff is authorised and directed to
take any steps and do all such things that the parties have been
directed to take and/or
do in the parties' stead in the event that
any of the parties fail/refuse and/or neglect to do so themselves.
This includes signing
any documentation in respect of and to give
effect to the sale and registration of the property.
(10)
The defendant’s counterclaim (claims
b, c and d) is postponed
sine die
.
(11)
Each party shall bear his / her own costs
of the action to date.’
(2)
There shall be no order as to costs
relative to the defendant’s application in terms of Rule
42(1)(a) for the variation of
this Court’s order of 16 February
2021.
JUDGMENT
Adams J:
[1].
I shall refer to the parties in this
opposed application as they were referred to in the original divorce
action between them. The
defendant is the applicant in this
application and she applies for a rescission of the divorce order
which was granted against
her ‘by default’ on 16 February
2021. The plaintiff is the respondent in this application. In the
alternative, the
defendant applies for a variation of the said
divorce order so as to provide in effect for her right of ownership
in and to an
undivided share in immovable property jointly owned by
her, together with the plaintiff, to be dealt with in accordance with
the
correct applicable legal principles. The order that was granted
against her by this Court (per Malungana AJ) was in the following
terms: -
‘
(1)
A decree of divorce is hereby issued.
(2)
The co-ownership that exist between the
parties in respect of the property situated at Erf [....], Malvern
East Extension, Germiston
(the Germiston property), is terminated.
(3)
The Germiston property will be placed on
the market for sale, and the net proceeds thereof will be divided
equally between the parties,
subject to payment to the plaintiff as a
first charge, of an amount equivalent to an amount paid by him in
excess of his half share
of the costs of the said property.’
[2].
As already indicated, the defendant applies
firstly for a rescission of the said Court order in its entirety. I
intend giving short
thrift to that application by the defendant for
the simple reason that, howsoever one views this matter, no case is
made out by
the defendant for such relief. The defendant accepts and
concedes that the marriage relationship between the parties had
become
irretrievably broken down by the time the divorce order was
granted during February 2021. This then means that the defendant does
not have a ‘
bona fide
defence’ to the plaintiff’s claim for a divorce order and
there is no reason why that order should be set aside. The
point is
simply that the divorce order itself cannot and should not be
rescinded – there is no legal basis to do so. Moreover,
it
cannot possibly be said that, all things considered, the divorce
order was erroneously sought or erroneously granted and therefore
the
said order cannot be rescinded in terms of Uniform Rule of Court
42(1)(a), which is discussed in more detail in the next paragraph.
[3].
There is however much more to be said about
the defendant’s alternative application for a variation of the
said order. And
the rest of this judgment will focus on that
application for variation, which the defendant brought in terms of
the provisions
of Rule 42(1)(a) of the Uniform Rules of Court, which
provides as follows: -
‘
(1)
The court may, in addition to any other powers it may have,
mero
motu
or upon the application of any
party affected, rescind or vary:
(a)
An order or judgment erroneously sought or
erroneously granted in the absence of any party affected thereby;’
[4].
The case of the defendant is that prayers
(2) and (3) of Malungana AJ’s order was erroneously granted
because it was at variance
with the order sought by the plaintiff in
his particulars of claim issued on 15 November 2018. The particulars
of plaintiff’s
claim, in the relevant part, reads that the
plaintiff prays for an order in the following terms: -
‘
Claim
B
1.
An order that the co-ownership of the
Germiston Property be terminated.
2.
An order that the above Honourable Court
appoints a liquidator in order to sell the Germiston property and
divide the net proceeds
realised from the sale of the Germiston
Property equally between the parties after payment to the plaintiff
as a first charge,
of an amount equivalent to any amount paid by the
plaintiff in excess of his half share of the costs of the Germiston
Property.
3.
Cost of suit only in the event of
opposition.
4.
Further and/or alternative relief.’
[5].
It may be apposite at this point to cite in
full the alternative relief sought by the defendant in her amended
notice of motion,
which indicates that an order in the following
terms is applied for in this application: -
‘
(2)
Alternatively, that the order handed down by the above Honourable
Court in case number 42712/2018 on 16 February
2021 be varied in that
paragraphs 2 & 3 of the order be deleted, and be substituted with
the following:
“
(2)
Plaintiffs application for relief sought in prayers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
& 8 of the draft order
attached to Plaintiffs notice of set town,
and submitted to court on 29 January 2021, is refused. The parties
may, upon due notice,
set the matter down for the adjudication of the
relief sought by Plaintiff in prayers 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 3 and 4 in
Claim A and
prayers 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Claim B in Plaintiff's
Particulars of Claim, alternatively, any amendment thereof, and
prayers b, c, d
and e in Defendant's counterclaim”.’
[6].
In a nutshell, what the defendant seeks is
to have set aside prayers 2 and 3 of Malungana AJ’s order
(supra), which deals
with the immovable property jointly owned at
present by the defendant and the plaintiff in equal undivided shares.
And, as indicated
above, this relief is sought on the basis that
prayers 2 and 3 were erroneously granted in that it was at variance
with what the
plaintiff sought in his particulars of claim. Once
these orders are set aside, then the defendant would require an order
in terms
of which the adjudication of these issues, as well as a host
of other issues not dealt with at all by the Divorce Court, be
postponed
sine die
,
to be dealt with at a date in the future.
[7].
At first blush, there is no merit in the
defendant’s case for the setting aside of order 2 of the said
court order, in terms
of which the co-ownership that exist between
the plaintiff and the defendant in respect of the Germiston property,
was terminated.
This order accords one hundred percent with a part of
the relief sought by the plaintiff as per his particulars of claim.
Therefore,
insofar as the defendant alleges that that part of the
order was erroneously granted because it was at variance with what
the plaintiff
sought in his particulars of claim, she is wrong. There
is no such discrepancy between the order sought and the order
granted.
That portion of the order therefore cannot be set aside or
varied.
[8].
Moreover,
the plaintiff’s case for this relief was based on the
actio
communi dividundo
,
which remedy was discussed in
Robson
v Theron
[1]
,
in which the Appellate Division held as follows at 855A – F:
'The basic notion
underlying the
actio communi dividundo
is that no co-owner is
normally obliged to remain such against his will.
Van Leeuwen,
Censura Forensis
, 1.4.27.1. Accordingly, when co-owners are
desirous of having their joint property divided and the share of each
allotted to them
in severalty, they may agree to the division among
themselves without having recourse to judicial proceedings.
"Where there are
co-owners who have agreed to divide, then the only relief that one
can claim from the other is an action for
specific performance in
terms of that agreement. Secondly, if there is a refusal on the part
of one of the co-owners to divide,
then the other co-owner can go to
Court and ask the Court to order the other to partition. Again, if
the parties agree that there
is to be a partition but the parties
cannot agree as to the method or mode of partition, the Court is
asked to settle the mode
in which the property is to be divided."
(
Ntuli v Ntuli
1946 T P D 181
at p 184, per Barry JP)
The Court has a wide
equitable discretion in making a division of the joint property,
having regard,
inter alia
, to the particular circumstances,
what is most to the advantage of all the co-owners and what they
prefer.
Bort, Advyssen, 19; Van Leeuwen, Censura Forensis,
1.4.27.5; Voet, 10.3.3
.
It is interesting to note
that the modes of division referred to by the Roman-Dutch jurists are
substantially identical to the modes
of distribution of partnership
assets as described by
Pothier
. Cf.
De Groot
, 3.28.6.
Thus where it is impossible, impracticable or inequitable to make a
physical division of the joint property, the court
in exercising its
equitable discretion may award the joint property to one of the
co-owners provided that he compensates the others,
or cause the joint
property to be put up to auction and the proceeds divided among the
co-owners.
Voet
, 10.3.3, read with
Voet
, 10.2,22 –
28;
De Groot
, 3.28.8;
Van Leeuwen
, R.H.R., 4.29.3;
Van
Zutphen, Practyke de Nederlantsche Rechten
,
sub voce
scheydinge no. 7; Wassenaar, Practyck Judicieel, cap 7 no 45; Pause,
Observationes Tumultuariae Novae
, vol 1, no 77. Cf.
Estate
Rother v Estate Sandig
,
1943 AD 47
at pp 53 – 54;
Drummond
v Dreyer
,
1954 (1) SA 306
(N).'
[9].
The plaintiff’s cause of action for
the relief based on the
actio communi
dividundo
was properly pleaded by the
plaintiff, who, for example, alleges in para 10 of his particulars of
claim that, in light of the irretrievable
breakdown of the marriage
relationship, it is no longer practical, economical and/or sensible
for the parties to remain co-owners
of the Germiston property. The
particulars of plaintiff’s claim therefore conclude that it
would be just and equitable for
the Court to order that the Germiston
property be sold by a liquidator appointed by the Court and that the
net proceeds realised
from the sale be divided equally between the
parties after payment to the plaintiff, as a first charge, of any
amount paid by the
plaintiff in excess of his half share of the costs
of the said property.
[10].
Accordingly, it cannot possibly be
suggested that the Divorce Court erred in granting the said order. It
therefore cannot and should
not be set aside or varied.
[11].
The
same cannot however be said as regards prayer 3 of Malungana AJ’s
order, which deviated – in a material respect
– from the
order which the plaintiff intended seeking as per his particulars of
claim. I am therefore of the view that the
order 3 was granted
erroneously. And I say so for a number of reasons as more fully set
out in the paragraphs which follow. In
that regard, I also place
reliance on the decision in
First
National Bank of South Africa Ltd v Jurgens and Others
[2]
,
in which this Court held that Rule 42(1)(a) finds application where
an ‘applicant has sought an order different from that
to which
it was entitled under its cause of action as pleaded’. I find
myself in agreement with the reasoning of this Court
in that matter.
[12].
The point is that a litigant, such as the
plaintiff
in casu
,
was bound by the case pleaded by him. The plaintiff was therefore
constrained to act within the parameters set out in his particulars
of claim, and the relief ultimately sought by him from the Court
should reside within the four corners of the relief sought as
per the
prayers to the particulars of claim. If not, then who’s to say
that the defendant would not have opposed the relief
sought because
it differs from the relied sought as per the summons. In this matter,
the relief granted as order 3 of the order
of Malungana AJ was not
foreshadowed in the particulars of claim. Therefore, the said order
was granted erroneously.
[13].
The
main difference between the order sought by the plaintiff in his
original particulars of claim and the order granted by Malungana
AJ
relates to the appointment of a
Receiver
and Liquidator
.
Importantly, the order issued by the Court on 16 February 2021 made
no reference to such an appointment. The order was also granted
in
very broad and general terms, and no directions were given as to who
would be responsible for placing the property on the market,
and
neither was a direction given as to how the proceeds were to be
divided or how the so-called ‘excess contributions to
the costs
of the property’ by the plaintiff was to be calculated or who,
for that matter, would quantify such costs. As rightly
pointed out by
the defendant, this is another reason why that portion of the order
was erroneously granted and should be varied.
In that regard, Mr
McDonald, who appeared on behalf of the defendant, referred me to
Solidarity
and Another v Black First Land First and Others
[3]
,
in which the Supreme Court of Appeal referred with approval to
Eke
v Parsons
[4]
,
and held as follows: -
‘
[10]
One of the primary functions of a court is to bring to finality the
dispute with which it is seized. It does so by making
an order that
is clear, exacts compliance, and is capable of being enforced in the
event of noncompliance.’
[14].
Applying the
ratio
decidendi
in
Solidarity
,
I reiterate that the order 3 of Malungana AJ was granted erroneously
– it is not an order which is clear; it does not exact
compliance and is not capable of being enforced without more.
[15].
This
may be an opportune juncture at which to deal with the principles
relating to Rule 42(1)(a), which gives the court a discretion
to vary
an order or judgment erroneously sought or erroneously granted in the
absence of any party affected thereby at the instance
of,
inter
alia
,
the party affected by such order or judgment. It has been held that
the purpose of rule 42(1)(a) is to correct expeditiously an
obviously
wrong judgment or order
[5]
. Once
the court holds that an order was erroneously sought or granted in
the absence of any party affected thereby, it should without
further
enquiry rescind or vary the order;
[6]
it is not necessary for a party to show good cause for the rule to
apply.
[7]
[16].
I have already indicated that, in my view,
order 3 of the Order of Malungana AJ was granted erroneously. It is
also common cause
that the said order was granted in the absence of
the defendant, who undoubtedly is a party affected by same. That
portion of the
Order therefore falls squarely within the ambit of
rule 42(1)(a) and it stands to be varied. The question is how.
[17].
The defendant submitted that the order
should be amended so as to provide for the adjudication of that
dispute be postponed
sine die
for decision by the Court at a later date. I disagree. I do not think
that the interest of justice would be served by a further
postponement of the issue, the crux of which relates to the manner in
which the ‘partition’ in respect of the Germiston
property is to be managed. It is so that, as ordered by this Court
during February 2021, the co-ownership of the said property
by the
defendant and the plaintiff should be terminated. Moreover, there can
be little doubt that the best way in which to give
effect to that
termination is to put the property on the market and for the proceeds
of the sale to be shared and distributed fairly
and equitably between
the parties, taking into account the contributions made by each of
them to the upkeep of the said property
and to the other costs
relating thereto, whilst at the same time having regard to any
benefit any of the parties may have derived
or is still deriving from
the property. It also seems logical that the best way to implement
this process of ‘partition’
would be to appoint a
Receiver and Liquidator
,
with the necessary powers to deal specifically with the sale of the
property.
[18].
As
alluded to above, and as was held in
Robson
v Theron
[8]
,
the Court has a wide equitable discretion in making a division of the
joint property, having regard,
inter
alia
,
to the particular circumstances, which is most to the advantage of
all the co-owners and what they prefer.
[19].
I therefore intend fashioning an order
which will give effect to the aforegoing.
[20].
There is one last issue which I need to
deal with and that relates to the defendant’s assertion that
Malungana AJ did not
adjudicate or deal in any way with the relief
sought by the plaintiff under his claim A, excepting only the
granting of the decree
of divorce, nor with the defendant’s
counterclaim for maintenance and for payment in terms of the
provisions of chapter 1
of the Matrimonial Property Act. The
plaintiff’s claim A was also for payment by the defendant of
maintenance for the children
born of the marriage between the
parties. The defendant contends that that issue is still very much
alive and should have been
dealt with by the Divorce Court, but it
did not do so. That is therefore, so the defendant contends, also an
issue which ought
to be dealt with by this Court in its variation of
the previous court order.
[21].
There are, in my view, two difficulties
with this contention by the defendant, Firstly, at the hearing of the
matter before Malungana
AJ on 29 January 2021, the plaintiff
seemingly did not pursue this claim against the defendant and, in my
view, the said claim
was abandoned by the plaintiff, who was fully
within his rights to do so. This is evidenced by the fact that the
draft order proposed
by the plaintiff on the said date made no
reference at all to this claim. That, therefore appears to have
spelled the end of that
issue. Secondly, all three the children had
reached the age of majority by the time the summons was issued during
November 2018,
and it remains open to them to pursue whatever
maintenance claims they believe they have against either of their
parents.
[22].
Accordingly, I do not believe that the
plaintiff’s claim A is extant – the decree of divorce was
granted and the claims
for maintenance for the children have been
abandoned.
[23].
As regards the defendant’s
counterclaim, there is, in my view, merit in her contention that,
whilst same was very much alive
and extant when the matter served
before Malungana AJ, it was not dealt with by him in any way. He did
not accept the counterclaim,
nor dismissed it, when he was under a
duty to do so. Therefore, so the defendant contends, insofar as the
counterclaim was not
dealt with by the Court, its order was
erroneously granted and should be varied so as to address – in
one way or the other
– the defendant’s counterclaim.
[24].
The matter came before Court on 29 January
2021 as an undefended divorce action, the defendant’s defence
having been struck
out by order of this Court (per Senyatsi J) dated
2 September 2020, which order reads as follows: -
‘
(1)
The [defendant’s] defence to the [plaintiff’s] claim in
the main action is struck;
(2)
The [defendant] is directed to pay the
costs of this application.’
[25].
As correctly submitted by Mr McDonald, this
order in effect struck out the defence of the defendant to the
plaintiff’s main
claim. It does not deal, in any way, with the
defendant’s counterclaim, which, in my view was and remained
alive and extant
by the time Malungana AJ heard the matter as an
unopposed divorce action on 29 January 2021. He also did not deal
with the counterclaim
in his judgment and order of 16 February 2021,
when he should have done so. It bears emphasising that, as submitted
on behalf of
the defendant, whilst her defence to the plaintiff’s
claim was struck out by the order of this court dated 2 September
2020,
the counterclaim was not struck out, and was left in limbo also
by the Court on 16 February 2021, when the judgment on the unopposed
divorce action was handed down.
[26].
The aforegoing, in my view, translate into
an order which was erroneously granted by this Court on 16 February
2021, which, in turn,
means that rule 42(1)(a) finds application. The
defendant is accordingly entitled to an order varying the previous
court order
so as to deal with the counterclaim, which is at present
hanging in the air. In that regard, I am in agreement with the
defendant
that the way in which that should be done is to order that
those outstanding issues raised in the counterclaim should be
postponed
sine die
,
to be adjudicated and decided upon by the court on a later date.
Unless off course the parties are able to reach a settlement
on those
outstanding issues.
[27].
I therefore intend varying the previous
court order accordingly.
Conclusion and Costs
[28].
For all of the aforegoing reasons, the
judgment and the order of this Court dated 16 February 2021 stand to
be varied in terms of
rule 42(1)(a). It was clearly granted
erroneously in the absence of the defendant, who is an affected
party.
[29].
I am of the view that the defendant’s
application was brought to correct an obviously incompetent order.
Neither the defendant,
nor the plaintiff can be blamed for the errors
in the said court order. It thus seems unfair to mulct either party
with costs.
Consequently, there shall be no order as to costs.
Order
[30].
Accordingly, I make the following order: -
(1)
The Order of this Court (per Malungana AJ)
dated 16 February 2021 be and is hereby varied in terms of Uniform
Rule of Court 42(1)(a)
by the deletion of prayer (3) of the said
order in its entirety and by the replacement thereof by the following
orders:
‘
(3)
It is confirmed that the joint ownership of the parties in the
immovable property known as Erf [....], Malvern
East Extension,
Germiston, situate at [....] S [....] Road, Malvern East,
Germiston (the Germiston property), is terminated
in terms of the
actio communi dividundo
.
(4)
Unless the plaintiff and the defendant
reach agreement in writing within one month from date of this order,
on all aspects related
to the termination of the co-ownership, then
and in such event, a liquidator is to be appointed by the attorney
representing the
plaintiff and the attorney representing the
defendant. If agreement cannot be reached between the attorneys
representing the parties
on the liquidator to be appointed, they
should each nominate two possible candidates, and the Court will
appoint from such nomination
the liquidator.
(5)
In the event of a liquidator being
appointed, each party shall be liable in equal shares for the
liquidator's fee.
(6)
The liquidator shall be empowered and
directed to give oversight and effect to the following, that:
(a)
The property be valued by an independent
valuer.
(b)
Immediately upon receipt of such valuation,
that the property shall be placed on the open market to be sold at
the valuation price,
by an estate agent or estate agents of the
liquidator's choice.
(c)
A firm of Attorneys, to be nominated by the
Liquidator at his sole discretion, shall be appointed as conveyancers
for both parties,
who will give effect to the sale as follows,
namely:
i.The
collection of the full purchase price.
ii.The
cancellation and discharge of the mortgage bond (if any).
iii.The
discharge of any further obligations on the property in respect of
rates, taxes, estate agent's commission, and the like.
iv.The
distribution to both parties of the net residue to be determined in
accordance with the provisions of [33.4.4] below.
v.Immediately
after the registration of the transfer of the property into a
purchaser's name and after all costs relating to the
marketing, sale
and transfer of the property, including (but without limitation)
estate agent's commission, any amount which may
be owing to the
plaintiff as allegedly being equivalent to any amount paid by the
plaintiff in excess of his half share of the
costs of the Germiston
Property, but also taking into account any benefit derived by him
from the property such as rent-free occupation
thereof or the
collection of rental from tenants (if any), and the liquidator's
fees, have been paid —a 50% portion of the
net proceeds of the
sale of the property is to be paid to the plaintiff; a 50% portion of
the net proceeds of the sale of the property
is to be paid to the
defendant.
(7)
For so long as the plaintiff resides in the
property, he is ordered and directed to pay timeously all water,
electricity and municipal
fees in respect of the property;
alternatively, and in the event that the property is vacant, that the
applicant and first respondent
be liable to pay, in equal portions,
all applicable water, electricity and municipal and other charges,
costs and amounts relating
to, or associated with, the property until
such time as the property has been transferred.
(8)
The parties are directed to give their full
co-operation in order to facilitate the marketing, sale and/or
disposal of the property,
including giving the estate agent/s access
to the property for viewings and signing all documents necessary to
give effect to the
sale and registration of the property.
(9)
The sheriff is authorised and directed to
take any steps and do all such things that the parties have been
directed to take and/or
do in the parties' stead in the event that
any of the parties fail/refuse and/or neglect to do so themselves.
This includes signing
any documentation in respect of and to give
effect to the sale and registration of the property.
(10)
The defendant’s counterclaim (claims
b, c and d) is postponed
sine die
.
(11)
Each party shall bear his / her own costs
of the action to date.’
(2)
There shall be no order as to costs
relative to the defendant’s application in terms of Rule
42(1)(a) for the variation of
this Court’s order of 16 February
2021.
L R ADAMS
Judge of the High
Court of South Africa
Gauteng
Division, Johannesburg
HEARD
ON:
19
th
April 2022 –
The ‘virtual hearing’ of this
opposed application was
conducted as a
videoconference on
Microsoft Teams
.
JUDGMENT
DATE:
14
th
September 2022
FOR THE
PLAINTIFF:
Advocate Eddmond Nhutsve
INSTRUCTED
BY:
Canario Cornofsky Attorneys,
Glenvista, Johannesburg
FOR THE
DEFENDANT:
Attorney Ben McDonald
INSTRUCTED
BY:
Ben McDonald Attorney, Pretoria
[1]
Robson
v Theron
1978 (1) SA 841 (A);
[2]
First
National Bank of South Africa Ltd v Jurgens and Others
1993 (1) SA 245 (W);
[3]
Solidarity
and Another v Black First Land First and Others
(163/2020)
[2021] ZASCA 26
(24 March 2021);
[4]
Eke
v Parsons
[2015] ZACC 30
;
2016 (3) SA 37
(CC) paras 73 – 74;
[5]
Bakoven
Ltd v G J Howes (Pty) Ltd
1992 (2) SA 466
(E) at 471 E – F;
[6]
Naidoo
v Somai
2011 (1) SA 219
(KZD) at 220 F - G; also see
Rossitter
and Others v Nedbank
(96/2014) ZASCA 196 (1 December 2015);
[7]
Bakoven
,
supra
,
471H; also see
Mutweba
v Mutweba
2001 (2) SA 193
(Tk) at 199 I - J;
National
Pride Trading 452 (Pty) Ltd v Media 24 Ltd
2010 (6) SA 587
(ECP) at 597I – 598B;
[8]
See
FN 1
supra
;
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