Case Law[2022] ZAGPPHC 542South Africa
BP South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Commisioner For The South African Revenue Service (A24/2021) [2022] ZAGPPHC 542 (20 July 2022)
High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Pretoria)
21 July 2020
Judgment
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# South Africa: North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria
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## BP South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Commisioner For The South African Revenue Service (A24/2021) [2022] ZAGPPHC 542 (20 July 2022)
BP South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Commisioner For The South African Revenue Service (A24/2021) [2022] ZAGPPHC 542 (20 July 2022)
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sino date 20 July 2022
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
GAUTENG
DIVISION, PRETORIA
CASE
Number:
A24/2021
REPORTABLE:
YES
OF
INTEREST TO OTHER JUDGES: YES
REVISED:
YES
20
July 2022
In
the matters between: -
BP
SOUTHERN AFRICA (PTY)
LTD APPELLANT
AND
THE
COMMISIONER FOR THE SOUTH
AFRICAN RESPONDENT
REVENUE
SERVICE
JUDGMENT
This
Judgment was handed down electronically by circulation to the
parties’ and or parties representatives by email and by
being
uploaded to CaseLines. The date and time for the hand down is deemed
on July 2022.
BAQWA,
J (TOLMAY J et SARDIWALLA J CONCURRING)
Introduction
[1]
This is an appeal against two judgments handed down on 21 July 2020
(the first appeal)
by Mothle J (as he then was) and on 14 July 2021
by Munzhelele J (the second appeal) before the North Gauteng High
Court.
Background
to the first appeal
[2]
South Africa is a licenced trader in fuel imports which it imports as
distillate fuel
from abroad and delivers it to a refinery where it is
stored in a warehouse. Some of it is sold in South Africa
whilst the
balance is exported. Upon leaving the warehouse for
export, it attracts an important duty chargeable to the exporter by
the
respondent. After the exportation the exporter is entitled
to claim export duty refund from the respondent and the refund
is
paid in a set off against the import duty which the exporter is
liable for.
[3]
The export process is conducted in a series of transactions which
include the purchase
of the fuel, collection from the refinery,
transportation to the port of departure or entry right up to its
delivery to the consignee
in a foreign country.
[4]
As proof of the claims for refund the exporter is legally obliged to
keep in its possession
and produce on demand by the respondent’s
inspectors, documents referred to as acquittals in the industry for
each of the
transactions regarding which a refund may be claimed.
[5]
The applicant is such a trader and distributor of fuels not only
locally but also
conducts exportation to the neighbouring countries
in the Southern Africa region.
[6]
The method of exportation by the applicant was to sell distillate
fuel to agents who
would then arrange its transportation across the
border for transportation to consignees in the neighbouring
countries. After
completion of the project the applicant would
lodge the claims for the export refund which the respondent paid for
by setting off
on the import duty.
[7]
The essence of the dispute between the respondent and the applicant
arises out of
the civil judgment obtained by the respondent after the
failure of the appellant to produce valid acquittals regarding fuel
which
had been allegedly exported by the appellant to Zimbabwe.
[8]
In seven letters of demand the respondent had demanded repayment of
monies credited
to the appellant. The credits remained
unsupported by proof that the fuel exports had in fact taken place.
The appellant
wanted to retain the credits pending the completion of
an internal investigation regarding the supporting documentation or
pending
the court challenge.
[9]
On 23 January 2020, the respondent issued three Letters of Intent
(Lol’s) in
which it gave the appellant notice of liability for
duty and forfeiture in various amounts of approximately
R40,5 million.
The liability was 78 consignments of
distillate fuel allegedly exported to Zimbabwe, without the
appropriate documentation.
On 13 February 2020, the respondent
issued 4 letters of demand to the appellant for payment of an amount
of R37 751 091,
80, based on alleged exportation of 73
consignment of distillate fuel. On 24 February 2020 the
respondent issued a final
demand and notice of institution of legal
proceedings. On 16 March 2020 the respondent obtained a civil
judgment in terms
of section 114 of the Act against the appellant.
[10]
On the same date of the civil judgment the respondent’s
inspectors attended at the appellant’s
premises in order to
execute the judgment. On 17 March the appellant requested
the respondent for an undertaking that
it would stay the execution on
the civil judgment, pending the outcome of the internal
administrative appeals and a court review
challenge.
[11]
In further communications the appellant requested a withdrawal of the
civil judgment but this
was summarily declined by the respondent.
The respondent did however agree to stay execution on 19 March 2020
pending an
application by the appellant in terms of Rule 77H.03 of
the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964 (the Act).
[12]
On 23 March 2020, the appellant launched the first application
scheduled to be heard on 7 April
2020 where the respondent was
directed to file an answering affidavit on 26 March 2020 but on 31
March 2020 the appellant removed
the application from the urgent
applications roll of 7 April 2020.
[13]
The appellant’s application for suspension of payment was
rejected by a committee of the
respondent on 19 May 2020 resulting in
the lapsing of the undertaking to stay execution on the civil
judgment.
[14]
The appellant launched the second application under case number
22772/2020. This application
was before court
a quo
on 2
June 2020 when it was postponed to 17 June 2020 and an order granted
to the appellant interdicting the respondent from executing
on the
civil judgment pending the hearing on 17 June 2020.
[15]
The applications by the appellant were in Part A and Part B and Part
A, the urgent interim interdict
was ultimately heard by the court
a
quo
on 21 July 2020 when the appellant’s urgent interim
interdict application was heard and dismissed. No order was
made
in respect of the relief sought by the appellant in Part “B”
of its notice of motion.
[16]
The court
a quo
on 4 September 2020 dismissed the appellant’s
application for leave to appeal against the judgment of 21 July 2020
and on
1 October 2020 the appellant applied to the Supreme
Court of Appeal for leave to appeal, which leave was granted.
Supplementary
affidavit
[17]
The appellant filed a supplementary affidavit under both case numbers
under the heading “Founding
Affidavit (Review Application)”
in respect of the relief claimed under Part “B” of its
notice of motion dated
24 May 2020 regarding an application
for review.
[18]
The respondent filed a rule 30 notice on 2 December 2020 for the
appellant to remove the cause
of complaint with regard to the
supplementary affidavit.
[19]
The appellant’s response was to invite the respondent to
withdraw the said notices upon
pain of punitive costs on failure to
do so. It also filed a counterclaim in which it sought leave
“to the extent that
it was necessary” to file further
affidavits.
[20]
On 14 July 2021 Munzhelele AJ (as she then was) granted the
applications under Rule 30 and dismissed
the counterapplication.
[21]
The “interlocutory appeal” comes with the leave of the
court
a quo
granted on 9 September. The appeal is
against the order regarding the two sets of interlocutory
applications which served
before Mothle J and the individual
interlocutory applications under Rule 30 and counter application by
the appellant which were
dealt with by Munzhelele AJ.
The
Applicable test
[22]
The issue with regard to orders appealed against in both applications
concerns the exercise of
a discretion by a lower court. It is
trite that an appellant court has limited power to interfere with the
exercise of discretion
by a lower court, the test being whether the
lower court exercised its discretion in a non-judicial manner;
applied the wrong principles
of law; misdirected itself on the facts;
or reached a decision that could not have reasonably been reached by
a court that has
properly acquainted itself with the relevant facts
and legal principles.
Mathale
v Linda and Another
[1]
.
The
Merits (First appeal)
[23]
The essence of the appellant’s applications was to interdict
the respondent from attaching
and disposing of the appellant’s
property pending the final determination of the relief sought in Part
B of the notice of
motion.
[24]
The
onus
was therefore on the appellant to satisfy the
requirements for an interim interdict. The effect of the relief
would be for
the appellant to retain the refund pending the intended
litigation in which it must prove that it exported the fuel.
Prima
facie
right
[25]
The legislative default starting point is that the
prima facie
right lies with the respondent to receive payment pending the
determination of any dispute rather than the applicant being
permitted
to withhold such payment. This is the so-called pay
now argue later regime.
[26]
Section 77G of the Act provides:
Notwithstanding
anything to the contrary contained in this act, the obligation to pay
the Commissioner and right of the Commissioner
to receive and recover
any amount demanded in terms of any provisions of this Act, shall
not, unless the Commissioner so directs,
be suspended pending
finalisation of any procedure contemplated in the chapter or pending
a decision by Court.
[27]
Evidently the common law position that an appeal suspends the
operation of an order is inverted
and not applicable in the present
case. The section provides that where there is a procedure in
terms of chapter XA or before
a court, the obligation to pay is not
suspended unless the Commissioner directs otherwise.
[28]
The leading case is
Metcash
Trading Ltd v C SARS
[2]
where the constitutionality of the “pay now argue later”
principle in taxation legislation was examined in the VAT
context and
was found not to be unconstitutional. The following passages
from the judgment illustrate the point.
“
At 114D
[42]
The Commissioner, in exercising the power under s36, is clearly
implementing legislation and
as such s36 power constitutes
administrative action and falls within the administrative clause of
the Constitution. I cannot
agree with Snyders J to the extent
that she considered the exercise of the discretion conferred upon the
Commissioner in s36 of
the Act not to be reviewable. The Act
gives the Commissioner the discretion to suspend on obligation to
pay. It contemplates,
therefore that notwithstanding the ‘pay
now, argue later’ rule, there will be circumstances in which it
would be just
for the Commissioner to suspend the obligation to make
payment of the tax pending the determination of the appeal.
What those
circumstances are will depend on the facts of each
particular case. The commissioner must, however, be able to
justify his
decision as being rational. The action must also
constitute ‘just administrative action’ as required by
s33 of
the Constitution and be in compliance with any legislation
governing the review of administrative action.
At 1142
[62]
Thirdly, the effect of the rule on individual taxpayers is
ameliorated by the power conferred
upon the Commissioner to suspend
its operation. The rule is not absolute but subject to
suspension in circumstances where
the Commissioner considers it
appropriate. The exercise of this power by the Commissioner
constitutes administrative action
within the contemplation of s.33 of
the Constitution and as such is reviewable as discussed above.
The existence of this
discretionary power therefore reduces the
effect of the principle ‘pay now, argue later’ in an
appropriate manner.
In all these circumstance, therefore, I am
persuaded that even if the effect of s.40(5) constitutes a limitation
on the right entrenched
in s.35 of the Constitution, it is a
limitation which is justifiable within the meaning of s.36.
At 1144A
[71]
But that does not mean that a court is prohibited from hearing an
application for interlocutory
relief in the fact of a pending VAT
appeal, or from granting other appropriate relief. Nor does it
mean that the jurisdiction
is theoretically extant but actually
illusory. A court would certainly have jurisdiction to grant
declaratory relief to such
a vendor if, for instance, it were to be
alleged that the commissioner had erred in law regarding the
applicant as a vendor; or
had misapplied the law in holding a
particular transaction to be liable to VAT; or had acted capriciously
or in bad faith; or had
failed to apply the proper legal test to any
particular set of facts. These are as many examples as can be
contemplated in
the wide field of administrative law defences, to
paraphrase Jansen JA in Kruger’s case. In particular the
vendor may
take on review a decision by the Commissioner under s36(1)
of the Act refusing to suspend the ‘pay now, argue later’
principle. Moreover, a vendor would now be able to found a
cause of action for interim relief on any appropriate constitutional
ground as well.”
[29]
Upon a proper reading of both the dictum of the Constitutional Court
and the applicable legislation
it is quite apparent that it is the
Commissioner that has the
prima facie
right to payment in the
interim and not the applicant who has the
prima facie
right to
withhold payment.
[30]
The applicant has failed to demonstrate that the Commissioner has
misapplied the law, or acted
capriciously. On the contrary,
from the applicant’s own admissions, it has been selling fuel
to local agents hence
its failure to produce the requisite
acquittals. The applicant has from a factual point of view, no
leg to stand on.
[31]
The applicant cannot adequately answer a very basic question as to
whether the fuel was exported.
It is required to keep all the
documents evidencing all the exports and section 162(5) of the Act
puts the
onus
on it to prove that the goods were exported.
The failure to respond in this regard proves that this was not done.
In
the circumstance the applicant cannot assert a
prima facie
right.
Balance
of Convenience, Irreparable Harm and Alternative Remedy.
[32]
The applicant’s case regarding the balance of convenience does
not even leave the starting
blocks as it is common cause that the
payment that the applicant is required to make is of a provisional
nature. If it launches
a challenge against the payment and is
successful, the payment is reversible. Closely linked to this
fact is the important
public interest regarding prompt payment of
taxes which favours the respondent.
[33]
The evidence regarding the applicant’s financial standing which
can be gleaned from audited
financial statements presented by the
applicant to the respondent does not support the allegation that
applicant would suffer irreparable
harm if it is not granted the
relief sought.
[34]
According to the financial statements the applicant had:
34.1 a net asset
value of approximately R6.5 billion;
34.2 cash and cash
equivalents of more than R1.5 billion;
34.3 its annual
turnover was in excess of R47 billion; and
34.4 its profit
before tax was in excess of R566 million.
[35]
According to five bank statements submitted, the applicant had a
total access to funds in excess
of R2, 676 billion and had one
account with an overdraft balance of R2.1 billion. With such
huge cash reserves and credit
facilities the applicant can hardly
make out a case for irreparable harm.
[36]
Equally, the applicant is not without a remedy. The amount
contested will be repaid to
him if it succeeds in getting the final
relief. Its loss will only have been the interim relief which
is not irreparable
and also does not deprive it the right to pursue
repayment.
Urgency
[37]
The appellant contends that the court
a quo
erred in
dismissing their application on the basis of lack of urgency.
In the same vein it contends that the correct order
should have been
to strike the matter off the urgent roll and allow the applicant to
proceed with the matter in the ordinary opposed
motion roll.
[38]
The appellant appears to misunderstand the procedure in the urgent
court. An urgent court
judge has the discretion to request
counsel to address him or her on the issue of urgency only and deal
with that matter,
ante omnia,
before dealing with the rest of
the application. He or she may then give his or her ruling on
the question of urgency.
Only if he or she finds that the
matter is not urgent he or she may indeed strike the matter off the
roll without dealing with
the rest of the application thus giving an
applicant an opportunity to deal with the rest of the application in
the ordinary court.
If the presiding judge does not proceed in
this manner that is neither an error or a misdirection. After
all he or she is
seized with the matter on all the matters raised in
the notice of motion and supported by the founding affidavit and he
or she
has the discretion to deal with all of them regarding the
urgent application.
[39]
As discussed above with reference to
Mathale v Linda and Another
(
supra
), the test is not whether the lower court was correct
but rather whether the lower court has exercised its discretion in a
non-judicial
manner; applied the wrong principles of law, misdirected
itself on the facts; or reached a decision that could not have been
reasonably
reached by a court that has property apprised itself of
the relevant facts and the law.
[40]
In the present case I find that the court
a quo
did not
misdirect itself in any of the ways described above.
[41]
More specifically the court
a quo
exercised its discretion
against the appellant in terms of section 96 of the Act which
provides:
“
(1)(a)
(i) No process by
which any legal proceedings are instituted against The
State, The
Minister, the Commissioner or an office for anything done in
pursuance of this Act may be served before the expiry of
a period of
one month after delivery of a notice in writing setting forth clearly
and explicitly the cause of action, the name
and place of abode of
the person who is to institute such proceedings (in this section
referred to as the ‘litigant’)
and the name and address
of his or her attorney or agent, if any.
(c)(i)
The State, the Minister, the Commissioner or an officer may on good
cause shown reduce the period specified
in paragraph (a) or extend
the period specified in paragraph (b) by agreement with the litigant.
(ii)
If the State, the Minister, the Commissioner or an officer refuse to
reduce or to
extend any period as contemplated in subparagraph (i), a
High Court having jurisdiction may, upon application of the litigant
reduce
or extend any such period when the interest of justice so
requires.
[42]
The discretion was not exercised in favour of the appellant in term
of section 96 and in the
circumstances the whole of appellant’s
application was not proper in that it was brought contrary to
statutory provisions.
There is neither a legal or factual basis
on which the appeal court can interfere with the discretion of the
court
a quo
in circumstances where the appellant failed to
persuade the court
a quo
that it was in the interests of
justice for the one-month period to be abbreviated. It is not
for this court to conclude
that the decision of the court
a quo
could not have been reached by a court that has properly informed
itself of the relevant facts and legal principles.
[43]
The reasoning of the court
a quo
in its judgment was expressed
thus:
“
[30]
… the civil judgment whose execution the applicant wants to
interdict is not based on an ordinary
tax liability, where the
taxpayer is expected to pay. It is based on a liability to
repay or return some of the amounts of
exports refunds claims, which
were credited to the tax payer (the applicant in this case), in
instances where the applicant either
submitted invalid acquittals or
is unable, at the stage of demand, to prove that fuel was in fact
exported to Zimbabwe.
[31]
Thus, the applicant prays to this court that while it conducts a
search for the proper acquittals
and simultaneously pursuing
litigation against the respondent, in effect it must continue to keep
in its possession the credits
it obtained from the export refunds,
some of which were based on irregular documents and others for which
there is no proof that
fuel was exported.”
Conclusion
[44]
None of the requirements for an interim interdict were proved by the
appellant before the court
a quo
. No case is made out on
appeal why the repayments to the appellant should be made as it has
failed to vindicate its rights
to the disputed refunds.
The
Second appeal
[45]
The appellant was granted leave by the Supreme Court of Appeal to
this court against the judgment
of Mothle J in the first appeal
(
supra
). The second appeal is a sequel to facts arising
from Part A in first appeal and it is against Munzhelele AJ’s
judgment
handed down on 14 July 2021.
[46]
The parties are the same as in the first appeal.
Background
On
18 November 2020 the appellant filed an affidavit in respect of
Part B of its Notice of Motion being the application to
review
the SARS decision. The supplementary founding affidavit is
headed “Founding Affidavit (Review Application)”.
The purpose of the affidavit was to set out the grounds and the facts
and circumstances upon which the appellant relied in its
review
application and to supplement the affidavit which formed part of the
interim interdict application.
[47]
On 2 December 2020 the respondent delivered a notice in terms of Rule
30 to afford the respondent
an opportunity to remove the cause of
complaint within 10 days. The respondent alleged that the
supplementary affidavit was
an irregular step.
[48]
On 14 July 2021 the court
a quo
made the following order:
“
1.
The delivery of the affidavit of Reneiloe Maesemene styled as
founding affidavit (review
application), delivered under cover of a
filing sheet dated 18 November 2020, is hereby set aside as an
irregular step.
2.
Applicant’s application brought under the notice of motion
dated 18
th
of January 2021 is dismissed.
3.
The applicant is ordered to pay the costs, including costs of two
counsel on
attorney and client scale.”
[49]
On 9 September 2021 the court
a quo
granted leave to appeal to
this court and that the appeal should be heard with the Part A
appeal. The respondent contends
that such an order ought not to
have been made by the court
a quo
but by this court. I
however say no more about the appropriateness of such an order as
this court is now effectively seized
with and has to consider both
appeals.
[50]
The appellant relied on Uniform Rule 53 for filing the supplementary
affidavit without requesting
the leave of court and Rule 53(4)
provides:
“
53(4) An
applicant for review may within 10 (ten) days after the Registrar has
made the record available to an applicant,
by delivery of notice and
accompanying affidavit, amend, add to or vary the terms of his or her
notice of motion and supplement
the founding affidavit.
”
[51]
The respondent contended before the court
a quo
that the
appellant had not been furnished with a copy of the record when they
filed the supplementary affidavit and that fact was
not disputed by
the appellant and it would therefore seem that Rule 53(4) was not
applicable thus making the filing of the supplementary
affidavit
premature.
[52]
It is trite that a supplementary affidavit will not be considered
when filed without leave of
the court. The court has the
discretion to grant leave in terms of rule 6(5)(e) of the Uniform
Rules to grant such leave.
In
Meropa
Communications (Pty) Ltd
[GLDH]
[3]
the court said:
“
The affidavit
will in any event not be considered admitted until leave is granted
by the court dealing with the application.
If good cause is
shown why the supplementary affidavit should be permitted and the
court, in its discretion, allows the affidavit
it will in effect
retrospectively condone the filing of the affidavit. If the
respondent had filed the affidavit without
seeking the leave of the
court, the affidavit at best, in the discretion of the court, could
be regarded a
pro non scripto
.”
[53]
Relying on
Khunou
& Others v Fihrer & Son
[4]
counsel for the appellant argued that the courts should not be rigid
and apply flexibility in considering the granting of leave
to file
supplementary affidavits.
[54]
For an applicant to succeed in such applications, he or she has to
satisfy three requirements:
54.1
Give a satisfactory explanation as to why it failed to put the said
information or facts and to file
the said affidavits timeously.
54.2
That such failure was not
mala fide
or due to its culpability;
and
54.3
That regard being had to all the circumstances, the affidavit should
be allowed.
[55]
The record shows that the appellant failed to provide an explanation
as to why they had not dealt
with the facts in the supplementary
affidavit at an earlier stage, that is in the founding affidavit.
Such an explanation
could have provided the justification for their
omission and a possible reason why the supplementary affidavit should
be allowed.
Put differently, the appellant failed to show good
cause for the granting of the relief sought. I therefore conclude
that court
a quo
found correctly that the appellant’s
case was not sustainable.
SARS
Rule 30 Defective
[56]
The appellant argues that the court
a quo
ought not to have
made the order because the Rule 30 application was defective in that
it did not allege prejudice in terms of
Rule 30(3).
[57]
If the Rule 30 application was defective, the appellant ought to have
objected to it in the form
of another Rule 30 application by the
applicant. Instead, the appellant raised the issue of prejudice
in the affidavit in
its counter-application which also served as an
answering affidavit to the Rule 30 application.
[58]
Rule 30(3) makes no specific mention of prejudice as a consideration
that has to be ranked above
others. Instead, it provides the
court with a wide discretion whether or not to set aside the
irregular proceedings.
It is trite that the discretion has to
be exercised judicially after due consideration of all the facts.
This does not mean
to say that prejudice is of no relevance. It
is however one of the factors which a court might consider in the
exercise of
its discretion. It would be however incorrect to
elevate it to an essential requirement above all other factors.
What
cannot be disputed is that the delivery of an additional
affidavit is not a matter of right but an indulgence with the leave
of
court. That much is clear from a proper reading and
interpretation of Rule 6(5)(e) of the Uniform Rules of Court.
The
effect of Section 96 order
[59]
What complicated matters for the appellant was the fact that the
section 96 relief had been refused.
The application could
therefore not be pursued further until an abridgment of the period
was granted. This applied to both
applications that were
brought by the appellant. Even though there was an application
for leave pending before the Supreme
Court of Appeal at the time the
affidavit was filed, this did not alter the position brought about by
the refusal of the section
96 relief.
[60]
The appellant argues that a purposive interpretation of section 96
should be applied in that
the purpose of the section is to alert the
Commissioner of prospective litigation and that SARS had been alerted
for years that
BP seeks to review and set aside the SARS decisions in
issue. The fact is, the period prescribed in section 96 has to
be
complied with or alternatively be abridged by the Commissioner or
the Court. None of these events happened. It cannot
be
validly contended as the appellant does that the statutory outcomes
run counter to the intention of the legislature.
Rule
53(4)
[61]
The only exception provided for in the rules for the filing of a
supplementary affidavit is to
be found in Rule 53(4) which permits an
applicant in review proceedings to supplement the founding affidavit
as well as varying
the notice of motion within 10 days after the
registrar has made a record available to the applicant. The
appellant purports
to be making use of this rule but that allegation
does not accord with the facts.
[62]
Firstly, the affidavit filed does not purport to supplement the
founding affidavit. Secondly
the appellant cannot rely on Rule
53(4) because the record had not been made available and the
affidavit purports to be a new founding
affidavit to Part B of the
applications
[63]
As per usual procedure and practice, the appellant opted for a
procedure where provision only
for one founding affidavit even though
the notice of motion might be divided into two parts, one being the
relief sought urgently
and the other part to be sought in the
ordinary course. There is no provision in the rules permitting, as of
right, the filing
of a second founding affidavit, such an affidavit
is irregular.
Conclusion
[64]
The court
a quo
exercised its discretion when granting the
orders appealed against. As discussed (
supra
) the test
is not whether the lower court was correct but rather whether the
lower court exercised its discretion in a non-judicial
manner;
applied the wrong principles of law; misdirected itself on the facts
or reached a decision that could not have reasonably
have been
reached by a court that has properly acquainted itself with the
relevant facts and legal principles.
[65]
In the present case I am persuaded that the court
a quo
did
not deviate from the requisite standard when applying its discretion
thus obviating the need for the appeal court to interfere.
Costs
[66]
The appellant was given an opportunity to remove the cause of the
complaint but it failed to
utilise it and instead contended that its
conduct was regular.
[67]
This has resulted in a voluminous record including the affidavit
giving rise to the applications
as well as the parties’ heads
of argument in the court
a quo
.
[68]
This was once more an issue which lies within the discretion of the
of the court
a quo
on the same basis explained in paragraph 65
above with which the appeal court will be slow to interfere with.
[69]
In light of the above I propose that the following order be made:
Order
[70]
Both appeals are dismissed with costs, including the costs of two
counsel, on an attorney and own client scale.
SELBY
BAQWA
JUDGE
OF THE HIGH COURT
GAUTENG
DIVISION, PRETORIA
Date
of hearing: 13
April
2022
Date
of judgment:
20 July 2022
Appearance
On
behalf of the Applicants
Adv A.P Joubert SC
Cell 082 458 8896
Adv L.F Laughland
Cell 060 975 9067
Instructed
by Ensafrica
Email:
aeras
nus@ensafrica.com
wndaba@ensafrica.com
On
behalf of the Respondents Adv
J Peter SC
Cell 082 900 3623
Adv M Meyer
Cell 071 898 8447
Instructed
by
Mac
Roberts Attorneys
Email:
juys@macrobert.co.za
/
nwessels@macrobert.co.za
[1]
2016 (2) SA 461
(CC) at 471
[2]
2001
(1) SA 1109
(CC)
[3]
Case
No: 29646/2016 (Unreported).
[4]
1982
(3) SA (WLD)
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