Case Law[2025] ZAWCHC 215South Africa
South Africa Securitisation Programme (RF) Limited v T Abrahams Transport Services (Pty) Ltd and Another (381/2023) [2025] ZAWCHC 215 (22 May 2025)
Headnotes
judgment. The plaintiff sues for payment of rental owing on a rental contract[1] and guarantee concluded by the second defendant on behalf of the first defendant during March 2022. In terms of the rental
Judgment
begin wrapper
begin container
begin header
begin slogan-floater
end slogan-floater
- About SAFLII
About SAFLII
- Databases
Databases
- Search
Search
- Terms of Use
Terms of Use
- RSS Feeds
RSS Feeds
end header
begin main
begin center
# South Africa: Western Cape High Court, Cape Town
South Africa: Western Cape High Court, Cape Town
You are here:
SAFLII
>>
Databases
>>
South Africa: Western Cape High Court, Cape Town
>>
2025
>>
[2025] ZAWCHC 215
|
Noteup
|
LawCite
sino index
## South Africa Securitisation Programme (RF) Limited v T Abrahams Transport Services (Pty) Ltd and Another (381/2023) [2025] ZAWCHC 215 (22 May 2025)
South Africa Securitisation Programme (RF) Limited v T Abrahams Transport Services (Pty) Ltd and Another (381/2023) [2025] ZAWCHC 215 (22 May 2025)
Download original files
PDF format
RTF format
make_database: source=/home/saflii//raw/ZAWCHC/Data/2025_215.html
sino date 22 May 2025
SAFLII Note:
Page
7 image is not available in html and rtf versions, please refer to
the PDF attachment for images.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF
SOUTH AFRICA
(WESTERN CAPE
DIVISION, CAPE TOWN)
Case number: 381/2023
In the matter between:
SOUTH
AFRICA SECURITISATION PROGRAMME
Plaintiff
(RF) LIMITED
and
T
ABRAHAMS TRANSPORT SERVICES (PTY) LTD
First defendant
KAUTHAR
ABRAHAMS
Second defendant
JUDGMENT DELIVERED ON
22 MAY 2025
VAN
ZYL AJ
:
Introduction
1.
This
is an opposed application for summary judgment. The plaintiff sues
for payment of rental owing on a rental contract
[1]
and guarantee concluded by the second defendant on behalf of the
first defendant during March 2022. In terms of the rental
contract, the first defendant leased a printer/copier machine from
the plaintiff for a period of 60 months. In terms of the
guarantee, the second defendant renounced the benefits of division
and excussion and, as a result, the second defendant is liable
to the
plaintiff in the amounts for which the first defendant is liable.
[2]
2.
The plaintiff sues as cessionary. The
defendants contracted with an entity known as Sunlyn (Pty) Ltd.
The contract was
ceded to Sasfin Bank Ltd in terms of a standing
arrangement between Sunlyn and Sasfin. On 17 May 2022, the plaintiff
acquired the
rental contract from Sasfin by way of cession.
3.
The
primary ground on which the plaintiff relies for relief is the
so-called
caveat
subscriptor
principle
which in essence binds the defendants to the content of the contract
regardless of whether they were aware of the content
thereof. The
general principle in our law is that when a person signs a
contractual document, he or she agrees to be bound by the
contents of
the document.
[3]
In
George
v Fairmead (Pty) Ltd
[4]
it was
stated that:
“
When
a man is asked to put his signature to a document, he cannot fail to
realise that he is called upon to signify, by doing so,
his assent to
whatever words appear above his signature. In cases of the type of
which the three I have mentioned are examples;
the party who seeks
relief must convince the Court that he was misled as to the purport
of the words to which he was thus signifying
his assent.
That
must, in each case, be a question of fact, to be decided on all the
evidence led in that particular case.
"
4.
The defendants’ defence is broadly that the
particular facts of this matter provide an exception to the
caveat
subscriptor
rule, and therefore raise a
triable issue which necessitates the refusal of summary judgment.
Various other defences arise
in the circumstances.
5.
I reiterate the broad principles applicable to
summary judgment applications, and consider the merits of the
defendants’ defences
thereafter.
The principles
applicable to summary judgment applications
6.
The
purpose of Rule 32 is to prevent a plaintiff’s claim, when
based upon certain causes of action, from being delayed by
what
amounts to an abuse of the process of the court. The plaintiff is
allowed to apply for judgment to be entered summarily against
the
defendant, thus disposing of the matter without putting the plaintiff
to the expense of a trial. The procedure is not intended
to shut out
a defendant who can show that there is a triable issue applicable to
the claim as a whole from placing his or her defence
before the
court
.
[5]
7.
Rule 32(3)(b) provides that a defendant in summary
judgment proceedings may “
satisfy
the court by affidavit …, or with the leave of the court by
oral evidence of such defendant or of any other person
who can swear
positively to the fact that the defendant has a bona
fide defence to the action; such affidavit or evidence
shall
disclose fully the nature and grounds of the defence and the material
facts relied upon therefor
”
.
8.
In
Breitenbach
v Fiat SA (Edms) Bpk
[6]
the
Court held as follows in relation to the defendant’s affidavit:
“…
no
more is called for than this:
that
the statement of material facts be sufficiently full to persuade the
Court that what the defendant has alleged, if it is proved
at the
trial, will constitute a defence to the plaintiff's claim
.
What I would add, however, is that
if
the defence is averred in a manner which appears in all the
circumstances to be needlessly bald, vague or sketchy, that will
constitute material for the Court to consider in relation to the
requirement of bona fides”
.
9.
The
defendant who elects to deliver an affidavit in opposition to a
summary judgment application must thus show that they have a
bona
fide
defence
to the action. They must fully disclose the nature and grounds
of the defence, and the material facts relied upon
and which they
genuinely desire and intend to adduce at trial. The facts
should not be inherently and seriously unconvincing
and should, if
true, constitute a valid defence.
[7]
A
bona
fide
defence
is accordingly one that is good in law, and that is pleaded with
sufficient particularity.
[8]
The defendant’s prospects of success are irrelevant to the
enquiry.
[9]
10.
The
word “may” in Rule 32(5) confers a discretion on the
Court, so that even if the defendant’s affidavit does
not
measure up fully to the requirements of subrule (3)(b), the Court may
nevertheless refuse to grant summary judgment if it thinks
fit
.
[10]
The
discretion is not to be exercised capriciously, so as to deprive a
plaintiff of summary judgment when he or she ought to have
such
relief.
[11]
11.
If it
is reasonably possible that the plaintiff’s application is
defective or that the defendant has a good defence, the issue
must be
decided in favour of the defendant.
[12]
If, on the material before it, the Court sees a reasonable
possibility that an injustice may be done if summary
judgment
is granted, that is a sufficient basis on which to exercise
its discretion in favour of the defendant.
[13]
12.
Have the defendants met this standard in the
present matter?
The defences
13.
In their plea and affidavit resisting summary
judgment, the defendants have raised essentially four defences:
13.1.
First, that they had no opportunity to read the
contract before signing it;
13.2.
Second, that the rental contract contained unusual
clauses which should have been brought to their attention prior to
signature,
but were not;
13.3.
Third, that the agent who negotiated the contract
with the defendants materially misrepresented to them that the fee
shown on the
contract was the entire monthly expense that was being
contracted for, and deliberately omitted to inform them that
additional
costs would be incurred per copy or print. Had the
defendants known of the additional expenses, they would not have
concluded
the contract; and
13.4.
Fourth, that the exemption clauses in the contract
are so onerous and one-sided that they offend against public policy.
The defendants did
not read the contract before signing it
14.
There are several important facts that are
undisputed. The first is that the plaintiff was not a party to
the conclusion of
the contract. As indicated earlier, the
plaintiff sues as cessionary. It can therefore not testify as
to what occurred
during the contract negotiations and the subsequent
conclusion of the rental contract and guarantee.
15.
It is further not disputed that the copier machine
provided to the first defendant was not in a working order from the
outset, and
that this was brought to the attention of the vendor, an
outlet known as Seven Degrees. It is common cause that the
vendor
did not take any steps to remedy the situation. The
defendants plead that the defective machine has not been used since,
and is being stored at the defendants’ business premises.
16.
It is, thirdly, common cause that the rental
contract did not specifically refer to the further charges that would
be incurred on
a “per print” basis. No schedule for such
costs was attached to the contract or to the founding papers.
17.
As
indicated, the plaintiff relies on the
caveat
subscriptor
principle
in contending that the plea raises no triable issue. It refers to
Motswane
v BMW Financial Services,
[14]
in
which the debtor alleged that he had not read the document that he
had signed with the claimant finance company to purchase a
vehicle.
The debtor said that the finance company informed him that he should
simply sign the agreement which he had not read and
he would "drive
a fancy car". The Court found that he had consented to the terms
of the agreement and that this was confirmed
by his conduct in making
payments under the agreement.
18.
Motswane
has
distinguishing features when compared to the present matter. In
Motswane
,
the appellant had been in possession of the motor vehicle since 2008
or 2009 (summary judgment was granted against him in 2023)
and even
went to the extent of putting himself under debt review. He had
initially paid diligently towards the agreement, and did
not
challenge the payment breakdown provided by the respondent in the
course of the litigation between them. In contending
that he
had not read the agreement, he did not say what terms of the
agreement would have caused him not to sign the agreement,
had he
read it.
19.
In the present matter the machine was defective
from the outset, and not used over an extended period of time.
The defendants
have taken issue with the payment schedule relied upon
by the plaintiff. They have also identified the clauses in the
contract
that would have persuaded them not to sign it, had they
known what the true position was.
20.
It is clear from the pleadings and from the oral
argument presented that the defendants did not read the contract at
all before
signing it. The reason for this omission is the
foundation underpinning the three further specific defences referred
to above.
The defendants say, in their plea, that the contract
“
was shoved at them to sign by the
vendor, who demanded immediate signature. Had they been
afforded an opportunity to properly
read the contents of [the
contract] they would have refused to sign same
”
.
21.
The defendants plead further that the contract “
is
largely unreadable and illegible due to the very small and blurred
font, and that they, in any event, would have been unable
to read the
contents”
.
22.
The plaintiff argues that this defence is not
properly pleaded, it being too sparse. I think, however, that
the plea paints
an adequate picture, at least to prevent the grant of
summary judgment. The copy of the contract contained in the court
file, especially
page 2 which contains the “
Terms
of business
”
, is densely typed in
single spacing, and indeed difficult to read, especially in hurried
circumstances. I include a half-page
extract to illustrate the
point:
23.
Page 1 is clearer, the salient part being typed in
capital letters. A trial court should nevertheless be given the
opportunity
of evaluating oral evidence regarding the circumstances
in which the contract was signed together with the manner in which it
was
presented to the defendants.
24.
The further defences raised, and the plaintiff’s
contentions in relation thereto, must be considered against this
background.
25.
The plaintiff’s argument in relation to all
of the defences is that, had the defendants read the contract, they
would have
seen what it entailed. This is of course correct –
the defences are indeed excluded by the contract. The argument
however ignores the defendants’ plea to the effect that they
had no opportunity of considering the contract before signing
it, and
further that certain clauses contained in the contract were not
pointed out to them.
The contract
contains unusual clauses
26.
Clause 6 of the rental contract states that, if
the consumer wants any protection for defective goods, he or she
needs to conclude
a separate contract with the vendor of the goods.
The clause reads as follows:
“
This
Agreement applies only to the hiring of the goods, which you have
accepted ‘a is’ and the rental does not include
any
payment in respect of licensing, service or maintenance or any other
charges. There is no licensing, service or maintenance
agreement between you and us, and if you require one it should be
obtained from the vendor of the goods. You agree that any
dispute in respect of the goods, their licensing, maintenance or any
other agreement that you may have, will not entitle you to
cease
complying with your obligations in terms of this Agreement and any
such dispute will not entitle you to withhold any rental
payments”
.
27.
This is, so the defendants argue, an unusual type
of clause in a rental contract, and should have been brought to the
defendants’
attention prior to signature. This would have
enabled them to decide to conclude such separate contract before
commencing
with the lease. The defendants say that a clause exempting
the owner of goods from any liability whatsoever, when the owner is
renting those goods to a consumer and expecting the consumer to
conclude a separate contract in order to safeguard its rights, is
not
a standard clause to be expected in such contracts.
28.
The defendants refer, too, to the exemption
clauses in the contract, of which they were not made aware. These
include clauses 3a,
b, and c on the first page of the contract, and
clause 25(2) on page 2 which states that the defendants agree “
that
all warranties implied by the common law are excluded and that no
representations of any nature have been made by or on behalf
of us
”
.
Clause 3 reads as follows:
“
3.
You hereby indemnify us:
a.
Against any legal responsibility for any claim that may be made
against us;
b.
For any loss that we may sustain from any breach of any of the
aforesaid provisions
or for the failure of the vendor to pass
ownership of the goods or deliver the good to us; and
c.
From any other loss which we may suffer in relation to the goods of
whatsoever
nature and howsoever arising and whether or not you are at
fault in relation thereto
”
.
29.
The
defendants argue that a clause that absolves a party of any liability
arising in any way whatsoever, even if the liability is
not the fault
of the consumer, is overly broad to the point of being draconian. The
Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”)
dealt with a similar
clause in
Freddy
Hirsch Group (Pty) Ltd v Chickenland (Pty) Ltd.
[15]
In
deciding that the clause offended against public policy, the SCA
stated the following:
[16]
“
In Johannesburg
Country Club v Stott & another
Harms
JA observed:
‘
The
conduct sought to be exempted from liability may involve criminal
liability, however, and the question is whether a contractual
regime
that permits such exemption is compatible with constitutional values,
and whether growth of the common law consistently
with the spirit,
purport and objects of the Bill of Rights requires its adaptation’.
but thought it unnecessary, in the light
of the proper reading of the
contractual exclusion encountered there, to determine it.
Of
clause 4.6, Blieden J said:
‘
this is not
a limitation of liability clause, it is an indemnity by the
“Customer” for any claims by third parties which
may be
lodged against the “Company” for losses suffered because
of the company’s fault or ‘for any reason
whatsoever”.
Counsel for the defendant referred to this clause as “Draconian”.
I would say this is an understatement.’
In
my view the provision is so gratuitously harsh and oppressive that
public policy could not tolerate it.
Or,
in the language of the majority judgment in Sasfin v Beukes,
it
is '... clearly inimical to the interests of the community, . . . or
run[s] counter to social or economic expedience
...'”
30.
The defendants argue that clause 3 of the contract
is so overly broad that it offends against public policy.
Counsel remarked,
as an aside, that clause 25(2) of the contract
stipulates that no warranties have been made. This, however,
flies in the
face of how Sunlyn was conducting its business. The
contract was concluded based on the representations of the agent who
negotiated
with the defendants. It is against public policy for a
company to be able to have an agent make any number of warranties to
induce
a contract, and then contractually renege on all those
warranties through standard fine print terms and conditions.
31.
The
defendants did not expressly raise the public policy defence in their
plea. It can therefore not be considered as a
bona
fide
defence
for the purposes of resisting the summary judgment application.
[17]
The clauses in question, however, seem to be of the kind which a
trial court may consider should have been pointed out to
the
defendants before signature.
32.
The plaintiff argues that the impugned clauses are
not unusual and, had the defendants read the contract, they would
have seen it.
They have themselves to blame for their
situation.
33.
The
SCA has looked past the
caveat
subscriptor
rule
in matters where unusual clauses were found to be present in
contracts. In
Mercurius
Motors v Lopez
,
[18]
for example, it was stated that:
“
An
exemption clause such as that contained in clause 5
[19]
of
the conditions of contract, that undermines the very essence of the
contract of deposit, should be clearly and pertinently brought
to the
attention of a customer who signs a standard instruction form, and
not by way of an inconspicuous and barely legible clause
that refers
to the conditions on the reverse side of the page in question
.”
34.
Returning to clause 6 of the contract, I agree
with the submission made by the defendants’ counsel that a
clause that requires
the consumer to conclude a further contract with
a supplier who is no longer the owner of an item, before the consumer
would have
any recourse if the rented items were defective and not
fit for purpose, should be brought to the attention of the consumer.
The
defendants aver that this was not done, and since they were not
given a reasonable chance of reading the contract before signing
it,
they did not realise what the position was. This is a triable
issue.
35.
In
fact, the following extract from the judgment of a Full Court of this
Division in
Something
Different Concepts and Shows CC and another v South African
Securitisation Programme (RF) Ltd and others
[20]
resonates as being apposite:
“
[29]
In our law, there is no general obligation on an offeror to enquire
whether or not the other party to the contract has
read and
understood the offer documentation accepted by him or her…. He
must do so, however, where there are terms that
could not reasonably
have been expected in the contract …
[31]
In the present matter,
the question is whether the second
appellant had reason to believe that the documents she had to sign
contained a guarantee agreement
which made her personally liable in
the event her Company (the first appellant) defaulted and whether the
respondents had reason
to believe that the second appellant would
have been prepared to sign the agreement if she had known that she
was about to incur
personal liability in the event the principal
debtor defaulted
…
[32]
It is common cause that the second appellant signed the Master
Rental Agreement and the guarantees. The second appellant averred
that it was never brought to her attention that the Master Rental
Agreement contained a Guarantee Agreement. The second appellant
stated further that when she signed the documents presented to her,
she particularly signed and initialled where the third respondent
asked her to sign and initial.
[34] It
must be stressed that the second appellant asserted in her affidavit
resisting summary judgment that the Guarantees
were surreptitiously
hidden in the body of the agreement to extend personal liability to
her when she signed the Master Rental
Agreement. In other words, at
the critical moment when the agreement was signed, the fact that
there was a guarantee in the pack
of documents presented to her was
hidden. This defence, in my view, raises a triable issue.
[35]
More pertinently, in paragraph 27 of the affidavit resisting summary
judgment, the second appellant asserted that the
third
respondent's representative had presented the agreement and other
documents to her, asked her to initial and sign the document,
and did
not advise her that the documents contained the guarantee.
However, based on her interaction with the third respondent's
representative, the second appellant assumed that no guarantee was
contained in the pack of documents. The assumption that there was no
guarantee in the pack of documents was based on the second
appellant's interaction with the third respondent's representative
before she could sign the agreement.
[36]
In my opinion, the second appellant should have been granted leave to
defend so that she could clarify the basis for
her assumption through
evidence during the trial proceedings. Furthermore, … where a
contract contains an onerous term that
one would not expect to find
in a contract, there exists a duty upon the offeror to bring the
incorporation of the condition to
the attention of the offeree
[37]
In addition, it is apposite to remind ourselves that the law
recognises that it would be unconscionable for a person
to enforce
the terms of a document where he misled the signatory, whether
intentionally or not … Where such a misrepresentation
is
material, the signatory can rescind the contract because of the
misrepresentation, provided he can show that he would not have
entered into the contract if he had known the truth …
”
36.
This is a somewhat lengthy quote but the
circumstances referred to by the Full Court are reminiscent of the
facts in the present
matter. A similar approach is thus
warranted.
Material
misrepresentation
37.
The
defendants complain that they were induced to conclude the contract
on the basis of misrepresentations
[21]
made to them by the agent who negotiated the Sunlyn contract, in
particular that there would be no fees payable apart from the
monthly
amount for the rental of the machine. The agent worked at an
outlet of the vendor, Seven Degrees.
38.
In
Brink
v Humphries & Jewell (Pty) Ltd
[22]
the
SCA found that a mistake induced by misrepresentation, whether
innocent or deliberate, overruled the
caveat
subscriptor
principle
and rendered the contract void
ab
initio.
In
that matter, a credit application contained a surety clause which was
not readily noticeable, and which was not conveyed to the
party
signing the contract. This misrepresentation by omission was found to
be material, as the signing party had not intended
to be bound as a
surety, and the SCA refused to hold the appellant to the terms of the
contract:
[23]
“
It
is true that the appellant had ample opportunity to read the form
carefully and he did not avail himself of that opportunity.
But that
is no answer.
It
is not reasonable for a party who has induced a justifiable mistake
in a signatory as to the contents of a document to assert
that the
signatory would not have been misled had he read the document
carefully
;
and such a party cannot accordingly rely on the doctrine of
quasi-mutual assent.
”
39.
In the present matter the defendants did not read
the contract, because they say they did not have the opportunity to
do wo.
The question is therefore whether there was a
misrepresentation on the part of the contract provider, which was the
agent at Seven
Degrees negotiating the Sunlyn contract. If
there was a misrepresentation, then the next question is whether the
misrepresentation
was material, inducing the defendants to enter into
the contract.
40.
It is common cause that the contract was ceded to
Sasfin Bank from Sunlyn. Sasfin Bank ceded it to the plaintiff
thereafter.
This leaves no doubt that the plaintiff has no
personal knowledge of what representations were made to induce the
contract on the
part of the agent. The plaintiff argues that
the agent at the centre of this dispute (that is, the salesperson at
Seven Degrees)
was in fact not Sunlyn’s agent, but the
defendants’ own agent, as he negotiated with Sunlyn on the
defendants’
behalf. As such, there could not have been
any misrepresentation as far as the defendants are concerned.
Precisely
what the situation was is oblique. Not having been
party to the exchanges, the plaintiff does not know whether the
agents
of Seven Degrees were also representing Sunlyn and whether an
agency relationship existed between Sunlyn and Seven Degrees.
The uncertainty of the situation is, in my view, further cause for
the refusal of the summary judgment application.
41.
This
question can only be answered when evidence is led on the subject.
What cannot be disputed by the plaintiff at this stage is
that the
defendants only interacted with one person throughout the process.
The contract in terms of which Sunlyn became owner
of the machine and
rented it out to the defendants was produced and provided to the
defendants for signature by the same person.
There is, at least, the
impression of ostensible authority on the part of this agent, with
the associated consequences for the
plaintiff in the litigation.
[24]
The plaintiff can also not dispute that the defendants never intended
to bind themselves to further costs for each copy or print,
and that
the true position was never brought to their attention.
42.
In opposition to the pleaded defence of
misrepresentation the plaintiff refers to the content of clause 6 of
the contract, which
I have quoted earlier. This, however,
reinforces their defence of misrepresentation. The defendants
have pleaded that
the agent never informed that there would be
further costs on a per print basis. Nowhere does the contract
stipulate such a cost
or set out a schedule of what that cost would
be. The referral to “
any other
costs
”
in clause 6 is ambiguous,
and does not place the defendants in a position to be able to
determine what the true costs involved in
this venture are.
Even had they read the contract, they would have been none the wiser.
43.
There is also no reason to doubt the defendants’
assertion that they would not have entered into the contract had they
been
informed of these extra costs, as they had an alternative option
available to them. They have pleaded that they already owned
a
machine where they were not bound by a “per copy” cost.
44.
Whether there was a material misrepresentation by
the agent (whether by omission or commission) that induced the
contract is, in
my view, a triable issue.
The exemption
clauses in the contract offend against public policy
45.
This defence, which was not raised in the plea,
has been dealt with. Should the defendants wish to rely thereon
they will
have to amend their pleadings.
46.
I have in any event found that the other defences
raise triable issues. There are further aspects that arise from
both counsel’s
interesting oral argument, but it is, for the
purposes of this application, not necessary to discuss those.
Conclusion
47.
I am of the view that summary judgment cannot be
granted in these circumstances. The defendants have raised
trial issues.
It cannot be said that the plaintiff’s claim is
unimpeachable in the circumstances.
48.
It is fair that costs stand over. The trial
court would best be able decide, on consideration of the matter as a
whole, whether
the plaintiff was justified in seeking summary
judgment.
Order
49.
In the circumstances, it is ordered as follows:
1.
The application for summary judgment is
refused, and the defendants are given leave to defend the action.
2.
The plaintiff may replicate to the
defendants’ plea within 15 days of the date of this order, and
the action shall proceed
in accordance with the Uniform Rules of
Court.
3.
The costs of the summary judgment
application stand over for determination at the trial.
P. S. VAN ZYL
Acting Judge of the
High Court
Appearances:
For
the plaintiff:
Ms R. More, instructed by Wright Rose-Innes
Incorporated
For
the defendants:
Mr A. Engelbrecht, instructed by R. Allom
Incorporated
[1]
The
provisions of the
National Credit Act 34 of 2005
and the
Consumer
Protection Act 68 of 2008
are not applicable to the agreement,
because of the nature of the agreement and the first defendant’s
net asset value or
annual turnover.
[2]
I
refer to the “defendants” throughout this judgment, on
the understanding that the second defendant acted on the
first
defendant’s behalf at all material times.
[3]
See
Christie
The
Law of Contract in South Africa
(5ed,
2006) pp 174-179.
[4]
1958
(2) SA 465
(A)
at 472A-B. Emphasis supplied.
[5]
Majola
v Nitro Securitisation 1 (Pty) Ltd
2012
(1) SA 226 (SCA)
at
232F–G.
[6]
1976
(2) SA 226
(T) at 228D-E. Emphasis added.
[7]
1976
(2) SA 226
(T)
at
227G-228B;
Standard
Bank of South Africa v Friedman
1999
(2) SA 456
(C) at 461I-462G.
[8]
Maharaj
v Barclays National Bank Ltd
1976
(1) SA 418
(A) at 426C-D.
[9]
Tumileng
Trading CC v National Security and Fire (Pty) Ltd
2020 (6) SA 624
(WCC)
para
13.
[10]
First
National Bank of South Africa Ltd v Myburgh
2002
(4) SA 176
(C)
at
180D–E.
[11]
Jili
v Firstrand Bank Ltd
2015
(3) SA 586
(SCA) at para [13].
[12]
Arend
v Astra Furnishers (Pty) Ltd
1974
(1) SA 298
(C) at 305C-F.
[13]
First
National Bank of South Africa Ltd v Myburgh supra
at
184H.
[14]
[2025]
ZANWHC 1
(6 January 2025).
[15]
2011
(4) SA 276
(SCA). The clause read as follows: “
The
Customer indemnifies and holds the Company harmless against all
claims, loss, damage, expense or proceedings of whatsoever
nature
against or on the part of the Company arising out of the sale or
distribution of the goods whether defective or not for
any reason
whatsoever.
”
[16]
Freddy
Hirsch supra
para
23. Emphasis supplied.
[17]
See
AHMR
Hospitality (Pty) Ltd t/a Bakenhof Winelands Venue v Da Silva
2024
(3) SA 100
(WCC) at para [14]. I do not venture into a
consideration of whether the trial court can
mero
motu
raise
the issue of public policy.
[18]
[2008] ZASCA 22
;
2008
(3) SA 572
(SCA) para 33.
[19]
Clause
5 (the exemption clause) read as follows: “
I
/we
acknowledge that MERCURIUS shall not be liable in any way whatsoever
or be responsible for any loss or damages sustained from
fire and/or
burglary and/or unlawful acts (including gross negligence) of their
representatives, agents or employees.
”
[20]
[2024]
ZAWCHC 103
(19 April 2024) paras 29-37. Emphasis supplied.
[21]
See
SPF
and another v LBCC T/A LB and another
[2016] ZAGPPHC 378 (20
April 2016) para 14.
[22]
2005
(2) SA 419 (SCA).
[23]
Brink
supra
para
11. Emphasis added.
[24]
See
the discussion in
Makate
v Vodacom (Pty) Ltd
2016
(4) SA 121
(CC) paras 42-68.
sino noindex
make_database footer start
Similar Cases
South African Securitisation Programme (RF) Limited and Others v WBT Auto Wholesalers and Others (1896/2023) [2024] ZAWCHC 23 (5 February 2024)
[2024] ZAWCHC 23High Court of South Africa (Western Cape Division)100% similar
South African Securitisation Programme (RF) Ltd and Others v 7 SIRS Group (Pty) Ltd and Others (9525/2022) [2024] ZAWCHC 89 (20 March 2024)
[2024] ZAWCHC 89High Court of South Africa (Western Cape Division)100% similar
Nonzukiso Security Services and Another v Regional Magistrate, Cape Town and Another (13158/18) [2025] ZAWCHC 185 (30 April 2025)
[2025] ZAWCHC 185High Court of South Africa (Western Cape Division)99% similar
All 4 Security Services CC and Others v City of Cape Town and Others (11496/2021) [2022] ZAWCHC 236 (18 November 2022)
[2022] ZAWCHC 236High Court of South Africa (Western Cape Division)99% similar
Prime African Security (Pty) Ltd v Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd and Others (Leave to Appeal) (2025/070166) [2025] ZAWCHC 476 (20 October 2025)
[2025] ZAWCHC 476High Court of South Africa (Western Cape Division)99% similar