Case Law[2022] ZAGPJHC 731South Africa
All Occupiers of 1 Willow Place, Kelvin, Sandton v K2016498847 SA (PTY) Ltd (45483/18) [2022] ZAGPJHC 731 (3 October 2022)
High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Johannesburg)
3 October 2022
Judgment
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# South Africa: South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg
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## All Occupiers of 1 Willow Place, Kelvin, Sandton v K2016498847 SA (PTY) Ltd (45483/18) [2022] ZAGPJHC 731 (3 October 2022)
All Occupiers of 1 Willow Place, Kelvin, Sandton v K2016498847 SA (PTY) Ltd (45483/18) [2022] ZAGPJHC 731 (3 October 2022)
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sino date 3 October 2022
REPUBLIC
OF SOUTH AFRICA
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
GAUTENG
LOCAL DIVISION, JOHANNESBURG
CASE NUMBER: 45483/18
REPORTABLE: NO
OF INTEREST TO OTHER
JUDGES: NO
REVISED
3/10/2022
In the matter between:
ALL OCCUPIERS OF 1 WILLOW
PLACE, KELVIN, SANDTON
Appellant
and
K2016498847 SA (PTY) LTD
Respondent
JUDGMENT
DOSIO J:
INTRODUCTION
[1] This is an
application for leave to appeal in respect to my judgment dated 18
July 2022.
[2] The appellant was the
second respondent in the eviction application and the respondent was
the applicant.
[3]
On 12 September 2022, my secretary sent an email to all parties
informing them that the matter was set down for hearing on 16
September 2022 at 9h00 in Court 4D. This correspondence was sent to
the email address
josjoey1@gmail.com
.
On 12 September 2022, the notice of set down was uploaded by the
appeals clerk, Ms Catharina Thomas, however, the notice of set
down
reflected the e-mail address
joyjoey@gmail.com
.
The matter stood down until 10h15. Various calls were made to the Ms
Smith, representing the appellant, on 16 September 2022,
by my
secretary, as well as the respondent’s counsel, to no avail.
There was no appearance for the appellant on 16 September
2022. In
order not to prejudice the appellant, the matter was removed from the
roll and I requested that a new notice of set down
be sent to the
appellant for 28 September 2022, and that the notice of set down
reflect the correct e-mail address, namely,
josjoey1@gmail.com
.
[4] On 28 September at
10h00, the appellant was once again absent. Various calls were made
by my secretary and the respondent’s
counsel to the cell number
of Ms Smith, to no avail. The respondent handed up proof of service
of the notice of set down on the
appellant for the date 28 September
2022. Service was effected on 19 September 2022, by the sheriff on
the appellant. The notice
of set down was accepted by Magauta Charity
Njovu (‘Ms Njovu’), who was the first respondent in the
eviction application.
[5] The matter was called
at 10h00 on 28 September 2022. The only party present was the
respondent’s counsel. There was no
appearance for the
appellant. The leave to appeal proceeded in the absence of the
appellant.
[6] It is important to
note that the first respondent in the eviction application, namely,
Ms Njovu, who was absent on both 3 and
4 May 2022 and against whom
judgment was granted, is not cited as an appellant in these
proceedings.
[7] In considering
whether to grant leave to appeal, section 17 of the Superior Courts
Act 10 of 2019 (‘Superior Courts Act’)
states that:
‘
(1)
Leave to appeal may only be given where the judge or judges concerned
are of the opinion that-
(a)
(i) the appeal
would
have a reasonable prospect of success;
or
(ii) there is some other
compelling reason why the appeal should be heard,
including conflicting
judgments on the matter under consideration;
(b)The
decision sought on appeal does not fall within the ambit of section
16 (2) (a); and
(c) Where the decision
sought to be appealed does not dispose of all the issues in the case,
the appeal would lead to a just and
prompt resolution of the real
issues between the parties.’ [my emphasis]
[8] Uniform Rule 49(1)(b)
was not complied with, as the leave to appeal was not filed within 15
days of the order being granted.
Due to the appellant’s failure
to seek condonation, the appeal should be dismissed on this ground
alone. However, in order
not to prolong this matter any further, the
leave to appeal was considered in the appellant’s absence.
[10] The first issue
raised by the appellant at paragraph 1.3 is that it was unable to
obtain the transcripts. This matter was finalised
on 18 July 2022 and
there is no logical explanation afforded by the appellant why to date
the transcripts for 3 May and 4 May 2022
have not been obtained.
[11] The second
issue raised by the appellant at paragraph 1.4 is that there is a
glaring discrepancy between the purported
eviction order and the
purported judgment, in that the eviction order is granted by the Hon.
Judge Mabesele and the judgment is
delivered by the Hon. Judge Dosio.
The judgment dated 18 July 2022 was delivered by myself and the typed
judgment, which has been
uploaded to CaseLines correctly reflects
this.
[12] The appellant has
raised 20 grounds for leave to appeal.
[13]
The first ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
by granting an order for the eviction of the appellants from the
property whilst not considering the fact that
the first respondent in
the eviction application (being
MAGAUTA CHARITY NJOVU and the only
respondent in the eviction application cited by name)
has an
existing registered mortgage bond over the property, (being a
liquidated document that to date remains unpaid and has not
been
cancelled) that still encumbers the property as stated in para 8.3 of
first Respondents AA & para 8.4 of the second Respondents
answering affidavit and therefore who was legally in possession of
the said property in terms clause 4 of the Mortgage Bond. Given
that
in terms of sections 57 of
Deeds Registries Act, 1937
, the Respondent
was substituted as the
debtor
upon registration of transfer.’
[14]
As regards this first ground, after the application for a
postponement was denied on 3 May 2022, Ms Smith (who represented
the
appellant) left the Court without the Court’s permission.
Accordingly, the matter proceeded in her absence. As a result,
no
submissions were made in respect to a mortgage bond. The property has
been transferred into the name of the respondent and the
title deed
reflects the respondent’s details. As a consequence, the
respondent holds full title over the property.
[15]
Although there is a pending application by Ms Njovu to set aside the
alleged fraudulent sequestration order, it still has not
been done.
This Court dealt with the
Oudekraal
[1]
principle in its judgment,
which states that an invalid administrative action may not simply be
ignored, but may be valid and effectual
and may continue to have
legal consequence until set aside by proper process. The legal
consequence is that the respondent is still
the owner of the property
and the appellant is unlawfully occupying the property.
[16]
The appellant relies on s57(3) of the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937
(‘Act 47 of 1937’), however, Ms Smith removed
herself
from the proceedings on 3 May 2022 and this aspect was not addressed.
[17]
Section 57 of Act 47 of 1937 deals with the substitution of a debtor
in respect of a bond. It states that:
‘
(1) If the owner
(in this section referred to as the transferor) of land which is
hypothecated under a registered mortgage bond
other than a mortgaged
bond to secure the obligations of a surety (not being a person
referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection
(1) of section fifty-six)
transfers to another person the whole of the land hypothecated
thereunder, and has not reserved any real
right in such land, the
registrar may, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of
the said section, register the transfer
and substitute the transferee
for the transferor as debtor in respect of the bond: Provided that
there is produced to him, in duplicate,
the written consent in the
prescribed form of the holder of the bond and the transferee to the
substitution of the transferee for
the transferor as the debtor in
respect of the bond for the amount of the debt disclosed therein or
for a lesser amount.[Sub-s.
(1) amended by s. 27 (a) of Act 43 of
1957 and by s. 24 (a) and (b) of Act 43 of 1962.]
(2) In registering the
transfer in terms of subsection (1) the registrar shall-
(a)
endorse upon the deed of transfer that the land has been transferred
subject
to the bond;
(b)
endorse upon the bond that the transferee has been substituted for
the transferor as debtor;
and
(b)
make such consequential entries in the registry records as he may
deem
necessary.
[Sub-s. (2) amended by s.
24 (c) of Act 43 of 1962 and by s. 7 of Act 92 of 1978 and
substituted by s. 16 (a) of Act 27 of 1982.]
(3) As from the date of
the transfer deed the transferor shall be absolved from any
obligation secured by the bond and the transferee
shall be
substituted for him as the debtor in respect of such bond and shall
be bound by the terms thereof in the same manner as
if he had himself
passed the bond and had renounced therein the benefit of all relevant
exceptions and, if the bond is a bond to
secure future debts, the
immovable property thereby mortgaged will secure any further or
future advances which are made by the
mortgagee of the bond to the
transferee.’
[18]
Section 57(3) cannot be read in isolation, as s57(1) and (2) of Act
47 of 1937 set out the requirements under which a transferee
can be
substituted for a debtor. These requirements were not met in the
matter
in casu
.
[19]
The second ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
and in light of the preceding paragraph 1, for not finding that the
Respondents eviction application is/was akin
to a
debtor
evicting a
secured creditor
for the purpose of circumventing
the payment of the debt and/or a mechanism advertently employed to
fraudulently dispose the property
to a third innocent party and
thereafter absconding with the proceeds of the sale.’
As
regards the second ground, this Court has dealt with the fact that
the alleged fraudulent sequestration order and transfer of
the
property has to date not been set aside, accordingly, there is no
order of Court stating that the sequestration or transfer
were
fraudulent. There is no basis in law under which a secured creditor
cannot be evicted due to the fact that they hold a debt
over the
debtor.
[20]
The third ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in failing to take into account the issue of the fraudulent Court
order that purportedly granted Hon. Majavu
AJ and that was prepared
and uploaded by the Respondent’s representative namely Attorney
“
Ms Tanya Stanley
and that triggered the Respondent’s
abusive process that lead to all the purported premature hearings and
alleged Judgments/Orders.
The aforestated fraudulent Court order
formed the genesis of the problematic, premature and irregular set
downs by the Respondent
in an attempt to circumvent the proper,
procedural and fair hearings of the main eviction application before
this Honourable Court;
and for which a variation and/or rescission
application had been launched.’
The
respondent’s counsel argued that he was in court on that day
and the application was heard on Microsoft Teams. The main
eviction
application was set down for hearing but it was not ripe for hearing
as heads of argument had not been filed. In addition,
Ms Smith who
appeared on behalf of the appellant stated they were not ready to
proceed with the matter as Hope Nhlanhla was ill.
Acting Judge Majavu
accordingly removed the matter. The point raised by the appellant has
no merit, as no other court would find
that a mere removal of the
matter would affect the outcome of the main eviction hearing.
[21]
The fourth ground of leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in failing to take into account that a further rescission application
dated 14 April 2022 had been launched by
the Appellants/Applicants
that remains pending an extant, as a result of all the further
premature, abusive irregular and unprocedural
set downs by the
Respondent.’
This
aspect was dealt with extensively in my judgment. There is little
prospect that another Court will come to a different conclusion.
[22]
The fifth ground of leave of leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in failing to take into account that the Respondent’s alleged
counsel (
Mr.Tyron Lautre)
had not proved that he was a duly
admitted Advocate as his capacity to represent had been raised and
objected to and an application
made to that effect and that the
application had not been finalized as a rescission application
remained pending.’
This
aspect has been dealt with by Willis AJ on 10 August 2021. The
appellant persists with this meritless accusation that Mr Lautre
is
not a duly admitted advocate. No Court will reach a different
decision, especially since Advocate Lautre has provided proof
on
multiple occasions that he is a dully appointed advocate.
[23]
The sixth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in failing to consider and give due emphasis to the Appellants
pending applications in terms of Rule 6(5)(g),
Rule 35(13), Rule
42&Rule30 dated 05 March 2021 that remains pending extant and
that had not been adjudicated at the time of
the hearing and were not
adjudicated at the hearing.’
This
was dealt with in the Court’s judgment and also by Willis AJ.
These applications were not considered as they were not
brought on
notice of motion. The appellant cannot hide behind the fact that they
are unrepresented as every other interlocutory
application has been
brought in the correct format, so they are well versed as to how an
application should be done. Even if the
Court were to have considered
them, it would not take the matter any further as they were further
delaying tactics. All the documents
requested in the Rule 35(13)
application, according to the respondent’s counsel, were
provided.
[24]
The seventh ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in not making a final decision in the absence of all the Appellants
and by refusing to postpone the matter and
grant an opportunity to
one of the Appellants to submit the merits of the Notice in terms
Rule 30 and 30A dated 28
th
April 2022, and/or make an
application thereof, that complained of the premature, abusive and
irregular set down, having been delivered
to the Respondent and the
submissions therein having been presented during the hearing alerting
the Hon. Court as to the premature
set down and the reasons of
prematurity and why the matter could not fairly proceed for a final
hearing on the day.’
The
appellants were given every opportunity to present their case. The
postponement of a matter set down for hearing on a particular
date
cannot be claimed as a right. A postponement will not be granted
unless the Court is satisfied that it is in the interests
of justice
to do so. The reason for the refusal was provided to Ms Smith, before
she abruptly left the Court and it was reiterated
in my judgment.
After the postponement was denied, judgment was not granted by
default, the defences were considered extensively.
Due to Court time
the matter commenced on 3 May 2022 and continued on 4 May 2022. On 4
May 2022, Ms Smith was once again absent.
There is no reason afforded
by the appellant why another Court would interfere with this Court’s
discretion to refuse a postponement.
[25]
There is a pattern exhibited by the appellant to set applications
down and once it reaches the door of the Court, they either
disappear
or don’t appear at all, which is evident once again from the
failure of the appellant to appear in Court on the
day this leave to
appeal was heard. There is no prospect that another Court, having
heard the grounds for the postponement, would
find that the
application for postponement was unfairly denied. In considering the
merits of the application for eviction, there
is no basis in law why
the eviction should be refused.
[26]
The eighth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in his examination of Rule 49 (11) and Section 18 of the Superior
Courts Act and Common law quoted due to the
fact they are all with
reference to an order that has already been granted and is being
rescinded and the effects thereof.
In casu
the issue before
the Hon. Judge was whether or not to proceed with the main eviction
application
ex-facie
the pending rescission application that
could affect and possibly dismiss the main eviction application. It
was remiss for the Hon.
Judge to proceed with the main matter
regardless of and in disregard of the pending rescission
applications.’
This
Court questioned the appellant why they had taken no steps to set
aside the sequestration order since 2021, whereupon the only
reason
given by Ms Smith was that heads of argument needed to still be
drafted and that this exercise is technical in nature. Having
considered all the technical points taken by the appellant, which
were complex in nature, in comparison, the drafting of heads
of
argument, in respect to the rescission of the sequestration order
would have been far easier and more useful to the appellant.
As
stated
supra
, to date this still has not been done. As a
result, the respondent is the lawful owner and is entitled to the
eviction order. There
is also no Court order stating that the
eviction application should be stayed pending the eviction being
granted. All these aspects
have been dealt with in the judgment and
there is little prospect that another Court would reach a different
conclusion.
[27] The
ninth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship
continues in paragraphs 40-47 of the Judgment on the same trajectory
wherein he adjudicates on the effect of a rescission
on a Court order
that is granted, whereas at the time of hearing he had not granted
the eviction Court order. The rescission application
against the
Court order of the Hon. Willis AJ (stated in paragraph 2 above and
that was not before him for hearing ) affected the
hearing of the
main matter which he was ceased with, in that he would be making a
final decision in circumstances whereby a different
Court might
arrive at a different decision regarding the issues and merits in the
pending rescission application and thus rendering
the premature
hearing of the eviction application, a nullity.’
This
Court did consider what the effect of the rescission would be. The
interlocutory applications heard by Willis AJ were not of
a final
nature. There is little chance that another Court would come to a
different decision as regards the interlocutory applications
and the
judgment of Willis AJ, where he dismissed the interlocutory
applications. None of the interlocutory applications had merit
as
they were brought in terms of the incorrect rules and the requested
documents, according to the respondent’s counsel had
already
been provided. There is nothing set out by the appellant why a
different Court would come to a different conclusion, they
merely
state that a different Court would arrive at a different conclusion.
The appellants are in effect seeking a second, third
and fourth bite
at the cherry by constantly attempting to revive abusive
interlocutory applications which have been dismissed.
[28]
The tenth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in paragraph 35(2) of Judgment in that he accepts pre-emptive
submissions from the bar by the Respondent’s
Counsel (which are
copy pasted word for word in the purported Judgment) concerning the
implications or effect of a rescission on
Court order that is granted
prior to the Hon.Judge granting the order for eviction and/or without
been presented with or having
an opportunity to dissect the merits
with finality.’
The
submissions heard from the bar were legal submissions which an
advocate is entitled to make and which a Court may take cognisance
of.
[29]
The eleventh ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in failing to give due emphasis to the key legal principle “
ille
qui dicit probat “
and that the
onus probandi
rested
on the Respondent as the Applicant in the application, in that he
failed to consider and attach the necessary weight to
the Appellants
notices to produce, because had he done so, he would have realised
that the submissions by the Respondent’s
alleged Counsel (
Mr.
Tyron Lautre)
from the bar were largely false and that the
Respondent could not prove any of the allegations, documents and the
events, given
the fact that to date they remained unanswered.’
The
notice to produce was filed after the judgment was granted and after
the respondent had filed its heads. It was therefore after
the fact.
[30]
The twelfth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in proceeding to hear the eviction application in circumstances a
pending application for rescission under case
number 3146/2017 of
this Hon. Court launched as result of fraudulently obtained
sequestration order that gave rise to the alleged
registered
ownership of the immovable property and wherein in the application
inter alia
a stay of the eviction proceedings is sought
pending finalisation of that application.’
This
Court dealt with this issue in the judgment. No Court has ever
pronounced on the setting aside of the sequestration order or
transfer of the property. The appellants have had years to set this
aside, but to date have failed to do this.
[31]
The thirteenth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in paragraph 13-33 of Judgment by unnecessarily attaching a lot of
weight and relying on the same alleged findings
and decisions for
which rescissions are being sought against and whose determinations
to date remain pending and that were not
before him for adjudication
and for which in paras 14, 15, 21,24 etc he claimed the matters had
already adjudicated upon by other
Judges.’
Other
Judges have indeed decided on these matters as there are Court orders
to this effect and this Court can take note of them.
This Court fails
to see how another Court would reach a different conclusion. There is
an extensive judgment written by Willis
AJ dealing with the
appellant’s conduct in these proceedings. The chances of a
different Court coming to a different conclusion
are negligible.
[32]
The fourteenth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in paragraphs 9 and 60 of Judgment in finding that the Applicant is
losing money as a result of repairs to the
property and outstanding
rates and incurred loss of income in the absence of any evidence
having been tendered in the Respondent’s
papers but such only
premised on the false testimonies at the bar by the Respondent’s
alleged Counsel (
Mr. Tyron Lautre)
in paragraph 24 of his
short supplementary heads of arguments.’
This
is incorrect as evidence for the loss of income is set out at
paragraph 34 of the founding affidavit. This in itself is also
not a
ground for the appellants to avoid being evicted. Even if another
Court were to find, which it wouldn’t, that there
is prejudice
being suffered by the respondent because they are losing income, that
is not a ground for the appellants to escape
an order for eviction.
There are accordingly no grounds for prospects of success on this
ground.
[33]
The fifteenth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in paragraph 10 of his Judgment in finding that the Respondents have
instituted a damages claim against the Applicants
when in fact there
is none and/or none exists.’
The
respondent’s counsel is adamant that Ms Njovu has issued
summons against the respondent in the Gauteng Division, Pretoria
under case number 10996/2022. Irrespective of this, this aspect does
not take the matter any further and it is not a ground for
leave to
appeal against the order of eviction granted by this Court.
[34]
The sixteenth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in paragraphs 60 & 68 of the Judgment in finding that a purported
application by the Johannesburg Municipality
that was launched by the
Respondent and ostensibly by the Johannesburg Municipality for which
the Municipality has not prosecuted
for many years, if the Hon. Judge
had applied the same logic of long delay of prosecuting matters as he
had applied in paragraph
10 & 66 of the Judgment is to be
regarded. Notably the alleged application has not been prosecuted by
the Municipality since
the First Respondent (in the main eviction
application) challenged the authority of the Municipality’s
alleged representative
in the purported application in the year 2019’
This
is a completely different matter and does not take the eviction
matter anywhere. The municipality has taken action against
the
respondents for unpaid rates and taxes and this does not affect the
order of eviction granted by this Court.
[35]
The seventeenth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in paragraph 16 of his Judgment in finding that there was an
application filed by the First Respondent (in the
main eviction
application) under case number
30412/2019
for the rescission
and setting aside of the order placing the deceased estate under
sequestration, when in fact the referred case
number is under
Gauteng
Division Pretoria
wherein the First Respondent only seeks
documentation in possession of her previous attorney (being “
Amina Bibi Rajah a.k.a
Amina Bibi Rahman”) , who at the time
doubled as the Respondent’s attorney’
The
reference to the wrong case number is merely a typographical error
and does not take this matter anywhere. This is not a ground
for
appeal and it does not affect the merits of the matter in anyway.
[36]
The eighteenth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in paragraph 61 of his Judgment in finding that the Respondent saw
that the property was for sale and purchased
it. The Respondent
contradicts itself in the papers as to whom it purchased the property
from and the Hon. Judge would have picked
that upon a fair and
unbiased examination of submissions made by the Appellants as regards
the genesis of the orchestrated fraud
that led to the Respondent’s
registered ownership of the property.’
Whether
the respondent was introduced by an agent or saw the property for
sale, is of no import, because at the end of the day the
property was
transferred to the respondent who accordingly is the registered owner
and entitled to an eviction. The circumstances
surrounding why that
came to be are completely irrelevant. These are facts that should
have been brought by the appellant in the
application to set aside
the sequestration order and the transfer of the property, which to
date it has failed to do.
[37]
The nineteenth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in paragraph 62 of his Judgment wherein he willingly and blindly
flows with the Respondent’s submissions
(even when they are out
rightly false) regarding the relationship between the 1
st
Respondent in the main eviction application (being Magauta Charity
Njovu) and one of the 2
nd
Respondent (being Hope
Nhlanhla). An unbiased analysis of submissions by the 1
st
& 2
nd
Respondents would have erased the need for
unfounded assumptions given that Mr. Hope Nhlanhla in para 8.2 of 2
nd
Respondent’s answering affidavit clearly refers to the 1
st
Respondent as his mother however in par 9.2 of the 1
st
Respondent of her answering affidavit she refers to the executor of
the deceased estate as her “
step son”
.
This
Court has dealt with this aspect in the judgment. The appellant’s
submissions were considered by this Court and they
were afforded the
opportunity to appear before this Court. Whether or not Mr Nhlanhla
is the son or step son of Ms Njovu, it does
not matter, as all the
occupiers are in unlawful occupation of the property and the
respondent is entitled to evict them. Even
if another Court had to
find there was a relationship between Ms Njovu and Mr Nhlanhla, it
does not take the matter any further.
[38]
The twentieth ground for leave to appeal is that:
‘
His Lordship erred
in paragraph 34(3) of his Judgment in finding that the telephone
number was gotten from an unknown Registrar
of this Hon. Court in
circumstances no such Registrar had testified to that effect however
he. The Appellants/Applicants clearly
demonstrated their concerns in
their notices and letters which the Hon Judge clearly ignored. The
inference to be drawn is that
his Lordship proceeded to make a
finding for the purposes of affording the Respondent or its
representatives a plausible explanation
as to how the telephone
number had been gotten and was overzealously and hell-bent on
protecting the Respondent or its alleged
legal representatives at all
costs and/or he was openly biased, unjust and unfair towards the
Appellants and was unjustifiably
in favour of the Respondent and/or
the Judgment was prepared by the Respondent or its alleged
representatives.’
This
aspect was dealt with in the judgment of Willis AJ as well as in the
judgment of this Court. The respondent’s counsel
once again
stated that Willis AJ asked the appellant to whom the number
belonged, which prompted Ms Smith to leave the proceedings
without
providing an answer. This does not take the matter anywhere. It does
not affect the merits of the matter and cannot be
raised as a ground
of appeal.
[39]
In the matter of
The
Mont Chevaux Trust v Tina Goosen & 18 Others
[2]
, the Court held that the
threshold for granting leave to appeal against a judgment of the High
Court has been raised. The former
test, whether to grant leave to
appeal should be granted, was a reasonable prospect that another
Court might come to a different
decision. The current usage of the
word ‘would’ in s17(1)(a) of the Superior Courts Act
implies that there must be
a measure of certainty that another Court
will differ from the Court whose judgment is sought to be appealed
against.
[40]
In the matter of
S
v Smith
[3]
, the Supreme Court of
Appeal stated that:
‘
What the test of
reasonable prospects of success postulates is a dispassionate
decision, based on the facts and the law that a court
of appeal could
reasonably arrive at a conclusion different to that of the trial
court. In order to succeed, therefore, the appellant
must convince
this court on proper grounds that he has prospects of success on
appeal and that those prospects are not remote but
have a realistic
chance of succeeding. More is required to be established than that
there is a mere possibility of success, that
the case is arguable on
appeal or that the case cannot be categorised as hopeless. There must
in other words, be sound, rational
basis for the conclusion that
there are prospects of success on appeal.’
[4]
[41]
Having considered the twenty grounds for leave to appeal raised by
the appellant, this Court finds that none of the grounds
raised are
convincing that there is a prospect of success on appeal. The
appellants are in unlawful occupation and have managed
to delay their
eviction for years.
[42] In
the premises the following order is made
1.
Leave to appeal is dismissed with costs.
D DOSIO
JUDGE OF THE HIGH
COURT
This judgment was
handed down electronically by circulation to the parties’
representatives via e-mail, by being uploaded
to CaseLines and by
release to SAFLII. The date and time for hand- down is deemed to be
10h00 on 03 October 2022
Date of
hearing:
28 September 2022
Date of
Judgment:
03 October 2022
Appearances:
On behalf of the
appellant:
Absent
On behalf of the
respondent:
Adv. T. Lautre
Instructed
by:
Sithatu and Stanley Attorneys
[1]
Oudekraal
Estates (Pty) Ltd v City of Cape Town and Others 2004 (6) SA 222
(SCA)
[2]
The
Mont Chevaux Trust v Tina Goosen & 18 Others
2014
JDR 2325 (LCC) at para [6]
[3]
S
v Smith
2012 (1) SACRT 567 (SCA) 570
[4]
Ibid para [7]
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