Case Law[2023] ZAGPJHC 361South Africa
TUHF Limited v 266 Bree Street Johannesburg (Pty) Ltd and Others (11987/2020) [2023] ZAGPJHC 361 (21 April 2023)
High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Johannesburg)
21 April 2023
Headnotes
in trust pending the final determination of the current litigation. The agreement also made provision for the running expenses of the Metro Centre to be paid out of the proceeds and the agreement was made an interim court order.
Judgment
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# South Africa: South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg
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## TUHF Limited v 266 Bree Street Johannesburg (Pty) Ltd and Others (11987/2020) [2023] ZAGPJHC 361 (21 April 2023)
TUHF Limited v 266 Bree Street Johannesburg (Pty) Ltd and Others (11987/2020) [2023] ZAGPJHC 361 (21 April 2023)
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF
SOUTH AFRICA
(GAUTENG DIVISION, JOHANNESBURG)
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH
AFRICA
CASE NO
:
11987/2020
NOT REPORTABLE
NOT OF INTEREST TO OTHER
JUDGES
NOT REVISED
21.04.23
In
the matter between:
TUHF
LIMITED
Plaintiff
and
266
BREE STREET JOHANNESBURG (PTY) LTD
First
Defendant
10
FIFE AVENUE BEREA (PTY) LIMITED
Second
Defendant
28 ESSELEN STREET
HILLBROW CC
Third
Defendant
68 WOLMARANS STREET
JOHANNESBURG (PTY) LTD
Fourth
Defendant
HILLBROW
CONSOLIDATED INVESTMENT CC
Fifth
Defendant
MARK MORRIS FARBER
Sixth
Defendant
TUMISANG KGABOESELE
Seventh
Defendant
Neutral
Citation
:
TUHF
Limited V 266 Bree Street Johannesburg (Pty) Ltd (in business rescue)
and 6 Others
(Case No:
11987/2020
) [2023] ZAGPJHC
361
(21
April 2023)
JUDGMENT
SENYATSI J:
Introduction
[1] This
as
an action in terms of which the plaintiff TUHF Limited (“TUHF”)
claims repayment of its full loan lent and advanced
to the first
defendant, 266 Bree Street Johannesburg (Pty) Ltd
(in
business rescue)
(“the first
defendant”).
[2] This matter proceeded
to full trial, in addition to written sworn statements and a
number of witnesses testified on behalf
of the plaintiff and one
witness testified on behalf of all six defendants. For convenience
sake, I will not restate the details
of the parties as same appear at
the heading of this judgment.
Background
[3] The claim by the
plaintiff is premised on the loan agreement which was concluded
during November 2016 in terms of which the
plaintiff lent and
advanced the sum of R20 937 842.00 to the first defendant.
[4] The loan facility was
made available to the first defendant for the purposes of purchasing
and refurbishing a building in the
Johannesburg inner city,
identified as Metro Centre (“Metro Centre”).
[5] By refurbishing the
Metro Centre the first defendant intended to create residential units
and upgrade the commercial floor space
which it would rent out to
tenants.
[6] The loan amount was
secured by a mortgage bond registered over at the Metro Centre. In
addition, the second to sixth defendant
concluded suretyship
agreements in favor of TUHF for the fulfillment of the loan repayment
obligation by the first defendant.
[7] The amount was drawn
down and the refurbishment of the Metro Centre was completed,
albeit
it took time, for reasons not relevant in this judgment.
[8] Due to the delay in
completing the refurbishment, the repayment was deferred to April
2019, according to TUHF. However, the
defendants contend that the
repayment of the loan was deferred to July 2019.
[9] When no repayments
were forthcoming, TUHF accelerated payment of the full amount in
2020. The basis of its acceleration was
breach of the loan agreement
in that no repayments were made either from May 2019 as averred by
the plaintiff or on the version
of the defendants, from July 2019. In
addition, TUHF contends that the first defendant was in breach of the
loan agreement by failing
to pay its municipal utilities such as
rates and taxes, refuse removal, water and electricity on the Metro
Centre.
Plea
[10] In their
plea, the defendants plead that the loan was based on suspensive
conditions which were never fulfilled all
waived by TUHF and that the
loan agreement was therefore void.
[11] The defendants also
contend that the suretyship agreements conducted by the second to
sixth defendants amount to financial
assistance which fall foul of
section 45
of the
Companies Act No 71 of 2008
on financial
assistance. They contend that the suretyship agreements concluded by
the second to sixth defendants amount to financial
assistance which
is prohibited by the said section.
[12] It is common cause
between the parties that the certificate of indebtedness is
prima
facie
proof the amount owing as provided for in the loan
agreement as this is contained in the agreement. However, the first
to the sixth
defendants contend that the figure set out therein is
excessive and therefore incorrect.
[13] The first defendant
was placed in business rescue by the sixth defendant during 2022.
However, the first business rescue practitioner
resigned as she
claimed that she is not getting any co-operation from the first
defendant, that is Mr Faber, the sixth defendant
in this case.
[14] Before she resigned,
however, the parties reached an agreement in terms of which the
proceeds of rental derived from the Metro
Centre were to be paid into
the independent escrow account to be held in trust pending the final
determination of the current litigation.
The agreement also made
provision for the running expenses of the Metro Centre to be paid out
of the proceeds and the agreement
was made an interim court order.
[15] After the
resignation of the first business rescue practitioner, a second
business rescue practitioner was appointed but he
also resigned
before the business plan of the first defendant could be finalized.
He also cited a lack of co-operation between
himself and Mr Faber,
the sixth defendant.
[16] A third business
rescue practitioner was appointed, and he is cited, as the seventh
defendant in these proceedings. He consented
to the legal action to
continue in terms of
section 133
of the
Companies Act of 2008
, as he
is of the view that the determination of what is owed by the first
defendant to the plaintiff is of critical importance
to him
presumably for the purposes of conducting the turnaround plan of the
first defendant.
Issues
[17] The critical
controversy in this judgment relates to the grace period after the
drawdown of the loan. As stated elsewhere in
this judgment, the
plaintiff states that the period was up to the end of April 2019. The
first defendant on the other hand states
that the grace period was
till the end of July 2019.
[18] What is common fact,
irrespective of whether the grace period from which the loan had to
be repaid was as claimed by each side,
is that the loan remains
unpaid. Not a single repayment was made in terms of the loan
agreement concluded between the parties.
[19] The plaintiff called
several witnesses to prove its claim. I will not go into the details
of each witness’s evidence
as same is on the trial record.
[20] The defendants
called a single witness to advance the defences raised. Mr Faber, the
sole director of all the defendants, from
the first to fifth
testified on behalf of the defendants.
The law and reasons
[21] I will now deal with
the issues raised namely:
(a) whether the loan
agreement is binding given that the defendants claim that the
suspensive conditions were never fulfilled;
(b) the grace period from
which the loan had to be repaid;
(c) the first defendant’s
breach of the loan agreement;
(d) the right by the
plaintiff to accelerate the outstanding full balance of the loan;
(e) the certificate of
indebtedness;
(f) the suretyship
agreements.
The grace period.
[22] The first defendant
contends that clause 6.1. of the common terms Module and clause
4.3.3. of the advance conditions module
in the loan agreement
constitute suspensive conditions which were not fulfilled or waived
by the parties at the time of the drawdown
of the loan amount. As a
consequence, the loan is null and void.
[23] Clause 6.1. of the
Common Terms Module provide as follows:
“
Subject
to the fulfilment or waiver, as the case may be, of the Advance
Conditions and/or the Special Conditions, and subject to
there being
no Event of Default, the Borrower shall, at any time during the
Drawndown Period, be entitled to request an advance
against the
Facility Amount by delivering to the Lender a Drawdown Request.”
[24] It is evident, in my
considered view that the operation of the clause was to regulate the
process of drawdown of the loan during
the purchase and refurbishing
of the Metro Centre. I do not find any interpretation on reading the
clause that the loan agreement
would be suspended. It is evident upon
reading the totality of the agreement that one of those conditions
was the security registration
such as the mortgage bond in favour of
the plaintiff by the defendant as amplified in clause 11 of the
agreement. The said clause
deals with security to be provided by the
borrower to the lender. It is not the defendants’ case that the
security required
was never provided to the plaintiff. The conditions
in the loan agreement are clearly just conditions, they do not seek
to suspend
the enforcement of the agreement between the parties
regarding their rights and obligations.
[25] It has been
argued and submitted on behalf of the defendants that the plaintiff
cannot rely on the alleged breach of
the loan agreement prior to
August 2019. This debate is academic because it is not the first
defendant’s case that it started
repayment of the loan after
that date. The first defendant made no effort to meet its repayment
obligations from what it contends
was a further extension of the new
grace period. In my view, this contention takes the breach of the
loan agreement nowhere and
must fail.
[26] Clause 43 of the
loan agreement deals with a host of special conditions between the
parties. I have considered all the conditions
which I will not repeat
them in this judgment and find no evidence of any of them being
suspensive. They are in my view, just conditions
and they do not seek
to suspend the enforceability of the loan agreement.
[27] In any event, I
considered the evidence of Ms Belinda Cooke, which was unchallenged,
that the plaintiff does not include suspensive
conditions in its loan
agreement. She stated that the conditions imposed in the agreement
before a drawdown may be made on the
loan facility are to ensure that
the plaintiff is protected but that the agreement itself is not
suspensive upon the occurrence
of a specific event. This in my view
makes practical sense and it is a sensible approach that should be
accepted by this court
as no lender can in its ordinary course of its
business disburse the loan amount whilst the agreement is not
enforceable, that
will simply be unbusinesslike.
[28] In regard to the
Common Terms and clause 4.3.3. of special conditions module, Ms Cooke
stated in evidence that these relate
to the advancement/drawdown of
the refurbishment amount and not to the advancement of the remaining
portions of the Facility Amount,
that is, the purchase price for the
acquisition of the Metro Centre. I am not persuaded by the contention
by the defendants that
those conditions were suspensive.
[29] I
am furthermore, fortified in my view, by the decision in
Natal
Joint Pension Fund v Endumeni Municipality
[1]
on the interpretation of the content of a contract where Wallace JA
held the approach to be as follows:
“
Interpretation
is the process of attributing meaning to the words used in in a
document, be it legislation, some other statutory
instrument, or
contract, having regard to the context provided by reading the
particular provision or provisions in the light if
the document as a
whole and the circumstances attendant upon it coming into existence.
Whatever the nature of the document, consideration
must be given to
the language used in the light of the ordinary rules of grammar and
syntax; the context in which the provision
appears, the apparent
purpose to which it is directed and the material known to those
responsible for its production. The process
is objective, not
subjective. A sensible meaning is to be preferred to one that leads
to insensible or unbusiness like results
or undermines the apparent
purpose of the document.”
[30]
In the instant case, it would be insensible and unbusinesslike to
conclude that the clauses 6.1. and 4.3. of the loan agreement
were
intended to suspend the operation of the loan agreement. This is when
regard is had to the fact that the funds lent and advanced,
well over
R20 million could be disbursed based on an agreement that is fully
suspended pending the happening of an uncertain event
or events.
Lenders simply do not function that way and suspend a contract
in terms of which they at the same time disburse
funds approved in
favour of a borrower. In law, the operation of a suspensive condition
is that the condition suspends the full
operation of a contractual
obligation and renders it dependent on an uncertain future event
[2]
,
this is trite and I need not repeat it in this judgment. In such
event, the whole agreement does not come into operation until
the
happening of an uncertain future event.
[31]
In
Tamarillo
(Pty) Ltd v BN Nitken
(Pty)
Ltd
[3]
the court held that:
“
A
true suspensive condition in a contract has the effect of postponing
the operation of the contract until the happening of some
uncertain
future event (“Resisto Dairy (Pty) Ltd v Auto Protection
Insurance Co Ltd”
[4]
)”
[32]
In
Reristo
Dairy (Pty) Ltd v Auto Protection Insurance Co Ltd
[5]
the court stated that:
“
The
question whether a condition in the [contract] is one suspending the
operation of the [contract] depends upon the nature of
the condition;
if in its nature it is not suspensive, it cannot be made so merely by
calling it a condition precedent.”
[33]
In
Design
and Planning Service v Kruger
[6]
the court held that:
“
In
case of a suspensive condition, the operation of the obligations
flowing from the contract is suspended, in whole or in part,
pending
the occurrence or non-occurrence of a particular specified event (cf
Thiart
v Krankamp
1967
(3) SA 219
(T) at 225). A term of the contract, on the other hand,
imposes a contractual obligation for a party to act, or refrain from
acting,
in a particular manner. A contractual obligation flowing from
a term can be enforced, but no action will lie to compel the
performance
of a condition (
Scott
and Another v Poupard and Another
1971
(2) SA 373
(AD) at p.378). This distinction between a condition and a
term is of particular importance in determining the consequence of
the
non-occurrence of the event postulated in a positive suspensive
condition.”
[34]
The common intention of the parties is always relevant to consider
whether the condition in the agreement was intended to suspend
the
operation of the agreement.
[7]
In the instant case, the plaintiff disbursed the funds upon the
drawdown request by the first respondent, who accepted such funds.
It
cannot be that the intention of the parties was to suspend the
operation of the agreement as contended by the defendants. In
fact,
the defendants had never raised the alleged invalidity of the loan
agreement in their previous dealings with the plaintiff.
Mr Farber
conceded under cross-examination that all conditions were fulfilled.
[35] There is also no
denial that the punitive interest as charged was agreed to and
provided for in the event of failure to meet
the monthly repayments
on time.
[36] By way of an
illustration, Mr Faber addressed an email on 4 August 2017 confirming
that the plaintiff’s chief executive
officer, Mr Paul Jackson
and his team had “visited both Wolbane Mansions and Malvin
Court and found both to be in good condition.
These two properties
were also used to secure the other facilities.
The Grace Period
[37] The other
controversy, as already stated herein before, this which of the
extended grace periods was agreed to, the one of
end of April 2019 as
contended by the plaintiff or the one of end July 2019 as contended
by the defendants.
[38] The loan agreement
itself provided for a 12-month grace period from the date of the
first drawdown. This meant that once the
funds were disbursed to the
first defendant, the latter did not have to make payment for a period
of 12 months. This makes business
sense as the Metro Centre was being
refurbished.
[39] It is evident from
the evidence supported by the papers that because of the delays in
completing the refurbishment, the 12
months period was extended by
the agreement between the parties culminating into the end of April
2019 or end of July 2019.
[40] The extensions were
at the request of the first defendant and were granted on three
occasions. The first was until December
2018, the second until the
end of February 2019 and on the version of the plaintiff, the last
extension was until the end of April
2019.
[41] The loan agreement,
in terms of clause 30 states that no latitude extension of time or
other indulgence which the plaintiff
may have granted to the first
defendant affected the plaintiff’s rights arising from the loan
agreement. It follows therefore,
that the indulgence allowing for an
extension of the grace on three occasions does not preclude the
plaintiff from strictly enforcing
its rights, as contemplated in the
loan agreement. I say so because I have not been provided with any
evidence or any addenda being
concluded as per the authorisations,
which required the addenda to be concluded.
[42] I have considered
the contention by Mr Faber, on behalf of the first defendant, that
the extension of the grace period was
the end of July 2019. The
contention was not supported by evidence relating to the
authorisations as I have noted with the other
three extensions of the
grace period. It follows therefore that the extension of the grace
period Until the end of July 2019 is
not that supported by the
evidence and therefore stands to be rejected.
The first
defendant’s breach of the loan agreement
[43] The loan agreement
in terms of clause 18.1 of the common Terms, makes provision for an
event of default. The event of default
would include the first
defendant’s failure to pay any amount or amounts due by it in
terms thereof on the due date and fails
to remedy such breach within
any applicable cure.
[44] The first defendant
also undertook that it would be promptly on the due date for payment,
all the rates, taxes, water and electricity
charges (whether levied
as basic charges or in respect of actual consumption), sanitation
charges (in respect of refuse removal
and sewerage) and other imposts
that may be payable in respect of the immovable property, to any
governmental, provisional, divisional
council, municipal or other
like authorities in terms of clause 17 of the Common Terms.
[45] The loan agreement
also states, in terms of clause 18.2 of the common terms that upon
the occurrence of an event of default,
the plaintiff may,
inter
alia
, accelerate and declare all amounts owing in terms of the
loan agreement.
[46] It is a common fact
that the first defendant has not repaid any monthly installment in
terms of the loan agreement, either
from the end of April 2019 or
from the end of July 2019. This situation has not changed in that the
last four years since the loan
agreement was advanced and drawn down
by the first defendant.
[47] The first defendant
claims that the loan agreement was varied following a meeting on 8
August 2019. Clause 29 of the loan agreement
states that any
variation to the agreement must be in writing and be signed by the
parties. This was not done and accordingly,
there was no variation to
the agreement.
[48] The first defendant
has been earning income from its business and has brazenly refused to
repay the loan granted to it by the
plaintiff. This is clearly a
breach that goes to the root of the agreement.
[49] I have considered
the evidence of Ms Kruger in terms of which she shared with this
court the excel spreadsheets showing them
amounts advanced to the
first defendant and how interest thereon, including the penalty
interest was calculated. I have had the
benefit of understanding the
accounting calculation of the charges by way of interest levied on
the first defendant’s account.
I am satisfied that the
plaintiff has been able to prove its quantum on a balance of
probabilities. The witness’s testimony
was truthful and given
honestly.
[50] The first defendant
continues to consume public services such as electricity, water and
refuse collection at the Metro Centre.
I have not been able to be
persuaded as to the reason why not a single basic amount was paid to
the municipality as requested in
terms of the loan agreement. The
contention that failure to pay was as a result of the queries that
the first defendant had with
the municipality it is disingenuous.
[51] Ms Guida
Constantinides (“Ms Constantidines”) testified for the
plaintiff and provided information to this court
on the
reconciliation of the first defendants municipal account number
[...]. She stated that the first defendant only paid when
the
plaintiff demanded it to pay the amount to the City of Johannesburg
metropolitan municipality (“CoJ”).
[52] She provided
various amounts that were due to the CoJ by the first defendant,
which as of 12 October 2022 reflected
a total amount of R4 035
295.35. This is a significant amount would you places the value of
the mortgage bond security at high
risk. I am not going to recite the
Local Government: Municipal Systems Act No 32 of 2000
, except to
state that
section 118(3)
thereof allows the CoJ to exercise its
rights regarding the recovery of the amounts owed to it by the first
defendant.
[53] Accordingly,
the first defendant has committed an event of default. As a
consequence, it is within the plaintiff’s
rights in terms of
the loan agreement to accelerate the full repayment of the loan.
[54]
the contractual relationship between parties requires our courts not
to interfere therewith. It is only where a contract term
or its
enforcement is so unfair, unreasonable or unjust that it is contrary
to the public policy that a court may refuse to enforce
it.
[8]
[55] The defendants have
not provided any basis from the contention that the loan agreement
was unfair or unreasonable. On the contrary
it is the plaintiff who
is suffering a significant prejudice in that despite having fulfilled
its obligations, it has not been
rewarded by the first defendant with
any of the repayments, except the odd occasions which the CoJ was
paid for services rendered
to the Metro Centre.
[56]
It cannot be correct that the full balance of the loan cannot be
accelerated because no demand was made. Our law is trite that
summons
issuing constitutes a sufficient demand.
[9]
Certificates of
Balance
[57] The correctness of
the figures stated in the certificate of balance is being challenged
by the defendants. It is, however,
common cause between the parties
in terms of the loan agreement that, such certificate is the
prima
facie
proof of the amount owing.
[58] Mr L.
Hollander submitted on behalf of the first defendant that the
plaintiff has not been able to establish any basis
for the quantum
that it demonstrated in the three scenarios in its papers. I do not
agreement with this argument. Ms Kruger testified
and provided
sufficient information on the model used in the spread sheet on
recording of the drawdown as they occurred, how the
interest thereon
is debited and thereafter, how the normal interest is charged and how
the agreed penalty interest is also levied
on the capital. I have not
found her unchallenged evidence to be unacceptable to a point where
it does not establish the quantum
based on the three scenarios laid
out before me.
[59]
This contestation was in the past before our court. In
Senekal
v Trust Bank of Africa Ltd
[10]
the Appellate Division, as it was then called, held that the
certificate of indebtedness is also prima facie proof of the
substance
of its contents in any litigation to exact payment.
[60] Ms Kruger verified
the signatory on the certificates of Indebtedness and the amount
stated therein. Her evidence was not controverted
in
cross-examination. Accoridingly, I have no basis to reject. There is
therefore no factual and legal basis for the challenge
of the
correctness of the certificate of indebtness by the defendants.
The suretyship
agreements
[61] I now deal with the
controversy that the suretyship agreements concluded constitute
financial assistance as contemplated in
section 45(1)
of the
Companies Act No.71 of 2008
.
[62] The second to the
fifth defendants were all represented by Mr Faber who is the sole
director and shareholder of the companies
and several close
corporations. Mr Faber in his personal capacity, signed unlimited
suretyship agreements on 19 October 2016.
[63] In the terms of all
the suretyship agreement, the defendant bound themselves
respectively, as surety for and co-principal debtor
in
solidium
with the first defendant for the performance by the latter of all
its obligations in terms of the loan agreement.
[64] The first defendant
has failed as a principal debtor, to pay the outstanding indebtedness
claim. Accordingly, the second to
the sixth defendants are liable to
pay the plaintiff.
[65] The defendants
further contend that the suretyship agreements are void in terms of
section 45(2)
of the
Companies Act, as
the board of directors of the
respective defendants were prohibited by the
Companies Act from
authorizing the lending financial assistance as none of those
entities would have satisfied the solvency and liquidity test
prescribed
by
section 4
of the
Companies Act.
[66
] In order for the
defence to succeed, the second and fourth defendants must show that:
(a)
The signing of the suretyship agreements constitutes direct or
indirect financial assistance;
[11]
(b)
The second to fifth defendants are related or interrelated
companies;
[12]
(c)
The financial assistance was not authorized by the board pursuant to
a special resolution of the shareholders, adopted within
the previous
two years
[13]
and that
immediately after providing the financial assistance, the second and
fourth defendants had not satisfied the solvency
and liquidity
test
[14]
in
section 4
of the
Act;
[67]
Financial assistance, includes lending money, guaranteeing a loan or
other obligation, and securing any debt or obligation
[15]
to a related or inter-related entity, as contemplated in
section 2
of
the Act.
[68]
The individualised juristic persons are related, and juristic persons
are related to juristic persons if there is control or
either
juristic is a subsidiary of the other person.
[16]
[69] It is evident that
as Mr Faber is the sole shareholder and the director of the second
and fourth defendants, they are inter-related
companies, as
contemplated in the Act.
[70] The suretyships were
concluded with the objective of providing the plaintiff with security
in addition to the registrations
of the mortgage bond and
consequently constitute financial assistance, as contemplated in the
Act.
[71]
The board must be satisfied that the company will satisfy the
solvency and liquidity test, immediately after the loan was granted.
The reason behind the insolvency and liquidity test is that as long
as the test is satisfied, creditors will not be prejudiced
if the
capital of the company is used other than for the ordinary business
purposes of the company.
[17]
[72]
The test requires factual and commercial solvency. Factual solvency
means that based on all reasonably foreseeable financial
circumstances the assets exceed liabilities, which is purely a
balance sheet that, in a particular moment
[18]
,
while in respect of liquidity it must appear, based on all reasonably
foreseeable financial circumstances, that the company will
be able to
pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business for
12 months after the test was applied.
[73] As he was the sole
director of the second and fourth defendants, Mr Faber, in
determining the factual and commercial solvency,
was obliged to
consider the financial information pertaining to them. He was also
obliged to consider the valuation of the second
and fourth
defendants’ respective assets and liabilities including any
reasonably foreseeable contingent assets and liabilities
prior to
signing the suretyship agreements on behalf of the two companies. He
had, as a director and shareholder, a comprehensive
knowledge
pertaining to the factual and commercial solvency of the two
companies at the time of signing the suretyship agreement.
[74] In terms of clause
23 of the loan agreement, Mr Faber, as a sole shareholder and
director of the first defendant, warranted
that all information
provided by the first defendant in the application for finance, and
nay other information provided to the
plaintiff in respect of the
application, was true and correct and that no information that may
affect the plaintiff’s decision
to approve the loan facility
had been withheld.
[75] The information
warranted to be correct included information pertaining to the
securities required by the plaintiff for the
purposes of granting the
loan facility, which included information pertaining to the factual
and commercial solvency of the second
and fourth defendants and their
ability to provide security to the plaintiff for the loan amount
being advanced.
[76] The resolutions
passed by Mr Faber on behalf of the second and fourth defendants, in
his capacity as the sole director and
shareholder, by implication
confirmed that these entities were solvent and liquid. Mr Faber
during his testimony, stated and confirmed
that in cross-examination
that at the time of signing the suretyship agreement, the second and
fourth defendants were solvent and
liquid.
[77] Consequently, it is
my view that the plaintiff acted on the basis of the correctness of
the information provided to the plaintiff
by Mr Faber. It was based
on the warranted information that the plaintiff took a decision to
approve the loan amount subject to
the signing of the suretyship
agreement.
[78] Consequently, I hold
the view that the second to sixth defendants cannot shield themselves
behind the provisions of
section 45
of the Act, to escape their
liability in terms of the suretyship agreement.
Conclusion
[79] After having
considered the papers, the evidence and the written heads of
arguments, I am satisfied that the plaintiff has
succeeded in proving
that the loan agreement has been breached as alleged and proved.
Consequently, the plaintiff acted within
its rights to accelerate
payment of the full loan amount.
Order
[80] The following order
is made:
(a) The defendants are
ordered to pay
R34 331 854.18,
jointly and severally, the one
paying the other to be absolved;
(b) Interest calculated
on the amount at the rate of 3.5% above the Base Rate per year,
calculated daily and compounded monthly
in arrears from 1 May 2022 to
date of payment, both dates included;
(c) Costs on the attorney
and client scale, jointly and severally, the one paying the other to
be absolved.
ML
SENYATSI
JUDGE
OF THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
GAUTENG
DIVISION, JOHANNESBURG
DATE APPLICATION
HEARD
: 13 February 2023
DATE JUDGMENT
DELIVERED
: 21 April 2023
APPEARANCES
Counsel
for the Plaintiff:
Adv
AC Botha SC
Adv
E Eksteen
Instructed
by:
Schindlers
Attorneys
Counsel
for the First to Sixth
Defendant:
Adv
L Hollander
Instructed
by:
Swartz
Weil Van De Merwe Greenberg Inc
[1]
2012
(4) SA 593
(SCA) para 18
[2]
See
Command Protection Services (Gauteng) (Pty) Ltd t/a Maxi Security v
South Africa Post Office Ltd
[2013] 2 SA 133
(SCA) para 10
[3]
1982
(1) SA 398
(A) at 432C
[4]
1963
(1) SA 632
(A) at 644
[5]
Supra
footnote 4
[6]
[7]
See:
Benoni Town Council v Minister of Agricultural Credit and Land
Tenure
1978 (1) SA 978
(T) at 991C
[8]
See
Beadica 231 CC and Others v Trustees Oregon Trust and Others
2020
(5) SA 247
(CC);
[2020] ZACC 13
paras 38 and 58
[9]
See
Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd v Hand
[2011] JOL 23768
(GSJ) at
para [22]
[10]
1978
(3) SA 375
(A) at 381H-383A
[11]
section
45
(1)(a)
[12]
section
45
(2)(a)(ii)
[13]
Section
45(3)(a)(ii)
[14]
Section
45(3)(b)(i)
[15]
Section
46(1)(a)
[16]
[16]
Section
2(a)(ii)(aa)
[17]
See
Capitex Bank Ltd v Qorus Holdings Ltd 2003 (3) SA 302 (WLD)
[18]
Section
4
(1)(a)
sino noindex
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