Case Law[2023] ZAGPJHC 522South Africa
Cronje and Others v Nash and Others (43585/2019) [2023] ZAGPJHC 522 (19 May 2023)
High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Johannesburg)
19 May 2023
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: South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg
South Africa: South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg
You are here:
SAFLII
>>
Databases
>>
South Africa: South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg
>>
2023
>>
[2023] ZAGPJHC 522
|
Noteup
|
LawCite
sino index
## Cronje and Others v Nash and Others (43585/2019) [2023] ZAGPJHC 522 (19 May 2023)
Cronje and Others v Nash and Others (43585/2019) [2023] ZAGPJHC 522 (19 May 2023)
Download original files
PDF format
RTF format
make_database: source=/home/saflii//raw/ZAGPJHC/Data/2023_522.html
sino date 19 May 2023
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH
AFRICA
IN THE HIGH COURT OF
SOUTH AFRICA
GAUTENG LOCAL
DIVISION, JOHANNESBURG
Case Number: 43585/2019
NOT REPORTABLE
NOT OF INTEREST TO OTHER
JUDGES
19.05.23
In
the matter between:
ANNETTE
CRONJE
1
st
Intervening Applicant
ELENA
FORNO-NASH
2
nd
Intervening Applicant
ANNA
HUGHES
3
rd
Intervening Applicant
PETER
WILLIAMS
4
th
Intervening Applicant
IRIS
SCHOEMAN
5
th
Intervening Applicant
MTHOKOZISI
MAZIBUKO
6
th
Intervening Applicant
ONIKA
MATHEWS
7
th
Intervening Applicant
ISAIAH
MASITHA
8
th
Intervening Applicant
MARION
NEZAR
9
th
Intervening Applicant
MAUREEN
FREDERICKS
10
th
Intervening Applicant
EVANO
BUSCH
11
th
Intervening Applicant
XOLILE
TOKOTA
12
th
Intervening Applicant
MOSES
MACHE
13
th
Intervening Applicant
HOLOISE
BENADE
14
th
Intervening Applicant
NATASHA
MORRIS
15
th
Intervening Applicant
IZAK
VAN ROOIJEN
16
th
Intervening Applicant
JUSTIN
SWARTZ
17
th
Intervening Applicant
MATTHEW
HANER
18
th
Intervening Applicant
CLIVE
BOTHA
19
th
Intervening Applicant
ROSHINA
REDDY
20
th
Intervening Applicant
IMELDA
MUDAU
21
st
Intervening Applicant
AIDEN
KOMER
22
nd
Intervening Applicant
ELVIS
MABASO
23
rd
Intervening Applicant
ALETTA
SITHEBE
24
th
Intervening Applicant
SAMANTHA
MAYS
25
th
Intervening Applicant
CLINTON
OVERWEG
26
th
Intervening Applicant
PATRICK
DOLL
27
th
Intervening Applicant
THULANE
MBHELE
28
th
Intervening Applicant
NICOLA
WILKINSON
29
th
Intervening Applicant
DUMISANI
KHUMALO
30
th
Intervening Applicant
BRANDON
NEZAR
31
st
Intervening Applicant
JAN
MAFANGU
32
nd
Intervening Applicant
DAMIEN
KAPP
33
rd
Intervening Applicant
DAPHNE
MUDAU
34
th
Intervening Applicant
and
SIMON
JOHN NASH
First
Respondent
CADAC
(PTY) LTD
Second
Respondent
THE
CADAC PENSION FUND
(in
curatorship)
Registration
No. 12/8/0020425)
Third
Respondent
ANTON
LOUIS MOSTERT N.O.
Fourth
Respondent
JOHAN
ESTERHUIZEN N.O.
Fifth
Respondent
KAREN
KEEVY N.O.
Sixth
Respondent
NMG
ADMINISTRATORS (Pty) Ltd
Registration
No. 1998/005937/07
Seventh
Respondent
In Re:
The matter
between:
SIMON
JOHN NASH
First Applicant
CADAC
(PTY) LTD
Second Applicant
And
THE
CADAC PENSION FUND
(in
curatorship)
Registration
No. 12/8/0020425)
Second
Respondent
ANTON
LOUIS MOSTERT N.O.
Third
Respondent
JOHAN
ESTERHUIZEN N.O.
Fourth
Respondent
KAREN
KEEVY N.O.
Fifth
Respondent
NMG
ADMINISTRATORS (Pty) Ltd
Registration
No. 1998/005937/07
Sixth Respondent
Neutral
Citation:
Annette Cronje and 33 Others v Simon John Nash and 6
others: In Re: Simon John Nash and another v Cadac Pension Fund and 4
others
(Case No.: 43585/2019) [2023] ZAGPGJC 522 (19 May 2023)
JUDGMENT
Vally J
Introduction
[1] The thirty-four
applicants herein seek to intervene in an application brought by Mr
Simon John Nash (Mr Nash) on 9 December
2019 (main application)
wherein he seeks to review and set aside certain decisions taken by
the curators of the Cadac Pension Fund
(in curatorship) (the Fund).
Mr Nash was the executive chairman of Cadac (Pty) Ltd (Cadac)
and one-time trustee of the Fund.
Initially Mr Nash sought only an
order declaring, (i) the decision of the curators to flag his pension
fund payment to be unlawful,
and (ii) that he is entitled to withdraw
his full pension benefits from the Fund. On 13 February 2020 the
curators answered to
his application. Mr Nash replied to the answer
on 28 February 2020. The matter should then have been ripe for
hearing, save that
the parties would have had to file their heads of
arguments as per the practice directives of this court.
[2]
However, between 18 –
25 March 2020 the curators communicated a decision taken by them to
Cadac and to ‘158 members’
that the Fund had been closed
as from 1 March 2003, that all of them had unlawfully been admitted
as members since that date, that
all contributions received from them
since that date were unlawfully received, that the administrator
would no longer be accepting
any contributions from them, and finally
that all the contributions received from them would be refunded
together with interest
less costs. This energised Mr Nash and
Cadac to bring an urgent application wherein they sought
relief, (i) granting
Mr Nash leave to institute the application
[1]
(this relief was necessary in terms of paragraph 4 of a court order
issued by Claasen J in case number 2010/50596); (ii) granting
Cadac
leave to intervene in the main application; (iii) pending the outcome
of the main application, interdicting the curators
and the
administrators of the Fund from ‘refusing to accept further
contributions from or on behalf of Cadac and members
of the Fund’,
and from refunding any contributions from and on behalf of Cadac
and/or the members; and, (iv) costs to be
paid personally by the
curators. The urgent application was brought on 20 April 2020. Thus,
the relief sought in the main application
was now expanded. On 29
April 2020, Ms Antoinette Cronje (Ms Cronje), Ms Iris Rose Schoeman
(Ms Schoeman) and Ms Samantha Mays
(Ms Mays) applied to intervene in
the interim application of Mr Nash and Cadac.
[3] The two applications
– application by Mr Nash and Cadac and application by Ms
Cronje, Ms Schoeman and Ms Mays –
were consolidated and
finalised in the SCA on 11 October 2021. The SCA, (i) granted Mr Nash
leave to institute the main application,
Cadac leave to intervene in
the main application and Ms Schoeman, Ms Cronje and Ms Mays leave to
intervene in the interim application;
(ii) interdicted the curators
and the administrators from refusing to accept any contributions from
Cadac and/or members of the
Fund and from refunding any contributions
to Cadac and/or the members; (iii) ordered the Fund to pay the
costs of the application;
and (iv) ordered that the Fund, the
curators and the administrators were to jointly and severally pay the
costs of the appeal,
including the costs of two counsel.
[4] Three months after
the SCA allowed Cadac to intervene, Cadac, on 17 December 2021,
launched its application. This was two years
after the main
application was instituted. Cadac’s case is different from that
of Mr Nash. It seeks an order reviewing and
setting aside the
decision of the curators (i) not to accept any contributions from the
‘members’ of the Fund; (ii)
to refund the ‘members’
contribution to the Fund; and (iii) to refuse to effect an amendment
to the rules of the Fund
as per a resolution passed by the trustees
prior to the Fund being placed under curatorship (amendment no. 4).
It also asked for
the matter to be remitted to the curators, and for
the normal costs order to be made should it be successful. Cadac’s
application
is brought in terms of rule 53 of the Uniform Rules of
Court (the rules). It would be convenient to refer to this as Cadac’s
review application.
[5] The curators filed
their answering affidavit to Cadac’s review application on 17
January 2022. In their answer the curators
inform that Cadac’s
business has been sold to another entity called Hudaco, and in terms
of the sale agreement all the employees
of Cadac would be transferred
in terms of s 197 of the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1999. Thus,
Cadac would have no employees and
would have no interest in the
application. They further challenged the legal standing of Cadac to
institute the proceedings. Having
relayed the fact of the sale of
Cadac’s business and recorded their contentions arising
therefrom, the curators went on to
present the substance of their
case against the granting of the relief in Cadac’s review
application. Cadac filed its replying
affidavit eight months later,
on 21 September 2022.
[6]
Thereafter, the
thirty-four applicants (individual applicants) brought this
application to intervene in the main application (the
intervention
application). They seek to review and set aside certain decisions of
the curators. Later on they brought an application
in terms of rule
35(13) of the rules asking this court to order that the rules
relating to discovery in action proceedings are
also applicable to
the main application.
[2]
The Intervention
Application
[7] The individual
applicants seek to review and set aside some of the decisions of the
curators, including the decisions referred
to in Cadac’s review
application. To this end they have filed this application to
intervene in the main application. Their
application was filed on 17
January 2022, the same day as the curators’ answering affidavit
in Cadac’s application
was filed. The first applicant in their
application is referred to as Ms Annette Cronje. It is not clear if
she is the same person
as Ms Antoinette Cronje, referred to in the
urgent intervention application that was finalised in the SCA. But
nothing turns on
this. The thirty-four applicants are all former
employees of Cadac. Their application is also brought in terms of
rule 53 of the
rules. The relief they seek appears at first
blush to be far more extensive than the relief sought by Cadac and by
Mr Nash.
Their relief is couched in the following terms:
‘
1. Granting
[them leave to intervene in the main application]
2. declaring that the
[curators] alternatively, a majority of the curators
2.1. had determined-
2.1.1 that an amendment
to the Rules of the Fund would be necessary to bring the de jure
position of the [Fund] (as a defined benefit
scheme) into line with
the de facto position of the [Fund] (as a defined contribution
scheme);
2.1.2 That a suitable
amendment, known as “Amendment No 4” existed as had been
passed on or about 15 April 2009 by the
former trustees of the [Fund]
but that Amendment No. 4 had not been approved by the FSCA [the
successor in title to the FSB] and
registered in terms of section
12(4) of the Pension Fund Act, 24 of 1956;
2.1.3 That there was
sufficient intent to justify a retrospective rule amendment in terms
of Amendment No. 4 (or another suitably
worded amendment) (“the
Rule Amendment”) which would align the
de jure
with the
de facto
positions of the [Fund];
2.2. Had recommended
that;-
2.2.1 The Rules of the
[Fund] should be amended to “normalise the fund”;
2.2.2. The
“pensioners” (which included both retired and unretired
members) should be outsourced as soon as possible;
2.2.3 After the
finalisation of further investigations and recoveries the [Fund]
should be liquidated;
3 Declaring that on
or about 23 October 2018 the curators, alternatively a majority of
them, undertook to the members of the
[Fund]:-
3.1 To outsource
all pensioners; and
3.2 To permit all
remaining members to exit the Fund and receive their actuarial
values; and
3.3 To take all
steps necessary to accomplish this result,
4 Declaring that the
curators had failed to implement:-
4.1 the steps recommended
in their report to the [SCA];
4.2 the undertaking made
on or about 23 October 2018.
5 Ordering and directing
the curators to implement their recommendations in their report to
the [SCA]; and/or the undertaking made
on or about 23 October 2018.
6 Reviewing and setting
aside
6.1 the decisions
of the curators during or about March 2020 wherein the curators
decided to –
6.1.1 Refuse and/or
decline to accept further contributions to the [Fund] from or on
behalf of the members of the [Fund] or
their employer, [Cadac]; and
6.1.2 Refund the
contributions made on behalf of Cadac and/or the members of the Fund;
6.1.3 Not effect
the Rule Amendment
alternatively
to rescind the undertaking to
effect the Rule Amendent (“the rescission decision”);
alternatively
6.2 The failure to make a
decision to effect the Rule Amendment (“the failure to
decide”);
6.3. The curators failure
to make such other decisions and take such other steps as will be
necessary to regularise and/or secure
the position of the intervening
applicants as members of the [Fund].
7 Ordering and directing
the curators to –
7.1 Amend the Rules
of the [Fund] in accordance with the Rule Amendment; alternatively
7.2 Take such steps
as may be necessary to secure the position of the intervening
applicants as members of the [Fund]
8 [Deals with the issue
of costs]’
[8] The individual
applicants claim that the relief they seek is more extensive than
that sought in the main application. I disagree.
Paragraphs 2, 3 and
4 of the notice of motion merely craft the facts relied upon by Mr
Nash and Cadac in the main application as
relief. Paragraph 6 is a
key one. It is the same relief that Cadac seeks. Paragraph 5 can only
be granted if paragraph 6 is successful.
In every material respect
the individual applicants’ application is the same as that of
Cadac: the two are simply indistinguishable.
Thirty-two paragraphs
from the founding affidavit of Cadac dealing with the facts as well
as contentions or allegations - such
as, for example, ulterior
objectives of the curators - are, by reference, incorporated into the
founding affidavit of the individual
applicants. These averments
capture all the relevant facts and contentions by Cadac and the
individual applicants. The individual
applicants add nothing new to
the application. In a word, they encore rather than augment the case
of Cadac.
[9] The offer made to the
158 employees of Cadac by the curators was accepted by some of them.
Eleven of them are applicants in
this application. They are
applicants 6, 9, 12, 17, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31 and 32. They have not
withdrawn from this application. Instead
strangely, they have filed
confirmatory affidavits supporting the application. However, it was
conceded by Mr Vetten acting for
all the individual applicants that
they should be regarded as no longer being part of this application.
The answering affidavit
makes reference to an additional four
individual applicants having accepted the offer, but these have not
been identified.
[10] The founding
affidavit has a telling averment. It reads: ‘Mr Nash is also a
member of the [Fund], and the rights the
intervening applicants seek
to enforce in all likelihood also pertain to him.’ The
curators, who oppose the application,
claim that the individual
members are really brought in by Mr Nash in order to bolster his own
application. This averment in the
founding affidavit certainly gives
credence to the claim. Reading Mr Nash’s application, Cadac’s
application and the
individual applicants’ application
collectively there is no doubt that there is an extensive coincidence
of interests between
Mr Nash and the individual applicants.
[11]
In
their answer to the application the curators, through Mr Anthony
Louis Mostert (Mr Mostert)
[3]
,
who has been a curator of the Fund since December 2010, say that the
application is an abuse of the process of court. They make
four
claims:
a. They say that 11
individual members have accepted an offer that has been made to all
of them, and that the offer remains open.
If they accept the offer
they will receive the same amount that they would be entitled to had
they been members of the Fund on
a defined contribution basis. As a
result, they claim, the individual members have nothing to gain by
bringing the application.
However, they are alive to the fact that
the individual members would be liable for tax should they accept the
offer, and to overcome
this they have sought a ruling from the
Commissioner of the Revenue Service (Sars) releasing each individual
applicant from the
tax liability. A Sars official has replied to the
call for a ruling. The official opines that the individual members,
if paid out
as if they were members of a defined contribution scheme,
will for tax purposes be treated in the same manner, i.e. they would
be liable for tax. Thus, they contend, no individual applicant is
adversely affected should s/he accept the offer, as they would
be
paid out as if they were members of a defined contribution fund,
which is beneficial to them. In normal circumstances, the only
obligation of the curators would have been to return all the
contributions received as these were received in error by the Fund.
By not doing this, and by treating them as if they were members of a
defined contribution fund, they have benefitted in that they
will
receive more than they would get if they simply got a refund.
b. They say that all the
individual applicants wish to exit the Fund as they are now employed
by Hudaco.
c. They highlight the
fact that Mr Nash has previously been found by various courts to be
the person behind applications brought
by other persons against the
Fund.
d. They claim that the
16
th
respondent informed them that he has been indemnified
by Mr Nash should this or any other court order him to pay the costs
of the
application.
[12] On these four facts
they draw the conclusion - and ask this court to draw the same
conclusion – that Mr Nash is the ‘protagonist’
of
their application. They say that Mr Nash has brought this application
under the guise of the individual applicants because Cadac
has ceased
to be an employer, and consequently lost its legal standing to pursue
the review application.
[13] The curators filed a
supplementary affidavit, deposed to by Mr Mostert, in order to
place certain facts before the court
that came to light long after
the answering affidavit was filed. The facts arise from interactions
they had with some of the former
employees of Cadac who sought
payment. Mr Mostert, who deposed to the affidavit, says that during
these interactions it was brought
to his attention that those former
employees were unaware that they were part of the individual
applicants seeking to intervene
in the main application. He
identifies two of the present applicants who specifically informed
his office that they were
ignorant of the fact that they are
applicants in the present application. They are Ms Emelda Mudau
(cited as ‘Imelda Mudau)
who sent an acceptance form on behalf
of the thirty-fourth applicant, Ms Daphne Mudau. Ms Daphe Mudau has
now been paid. However,
she has not withdrawn from the application
and has signed a confirmatory affidavit indicating her support for
the application.
During some of the interactions it was established
that the 26
th
applicant, Mr Clinton Overberg, indicated
that he did not wish to be part of the application. A similar
experience occurred with
many of the other applicants. This places in
doubt whether they truly joined in this application voluntarily. The
supplementary
affidavit contains the disturbing allegation that Mr
Darryl Furman (Mr Furman), the attorney representing the individual
applicants
in this case, had made a ‘threatening call’ to
Ms Cronje (the first applicant) after he learnt that she had
contacted
the curators. There is also an allegation that Mr Furman
had no contact with the third applicant even though she is cited as
an
applicant in this matter.
[14] There is no
substantial answer to these claims of the curators by the individual
applicants. The Mr Isaiah Masitha (Mr Masitha),
the 8
th
intervening applicant, in reply states that he is mandated by the
other 33 applicants to bring the application. His averment to
this
effect constitutes a single sentence. There is no substantiation
thereof. There is no direct response to the allegations.
His claim is
simply an unsupported assertion – an
ipse dixit
. It
cannot hold. On the contrary, the claims of the curators have to be
accepted. In the circumstances, I have to find that Mr
Masitha has
not been candid with this court.
[15] The answering
affidavit and the supplementary affidavit of the curators certainly
raise very serious doubts about the veracity
of the claim that all
the thirty-four applicants in this application have freely and
voluntarily brought, or joined in, the application.
For that reason,
they ask that the intervention application be dismissed. I agree that
there is too much controversy as to whether
each of the individual
applicants have voluntarily brought or joined in this application.
However, there are two applicants in
the present application of whom
it can be said that there is no doubt about their voluntary
involvement. It is the 8
th
applicant, Mr Masitha, and the
second applicant, Mrs Elena Forno-Nash (Mrs Nash). Mr Masitha is the
deponent to the founding affidavit.
Mrs Forno-Nash is the wife of Mr
Nash and the deponent to the founding affidavit in Cadac’s
application. While there certainly
is doubt about the voluntary
involvement of the other applicants, there can be no such doubt with
regard to Mr Masitha and Mrs
Forno-Nash.
[16]
There
certainly is substance to the contention that Mr Nash is the driving
force behind the litigation by Cadac and the individual
applicants.
The facts referred to above clearly support the contention. Mr Nash
has the most to lose – he claims that he
is entitled to
R36 525 806.31 as a pension benefit, which constitutes
about one-third of the Funds’ assets - from
the decisions of
the curators to steadfastly hold on to the view that the Fund was a
closed one since 2003, and to refuse to accept
any further
contributions from Cadac and the members. There is no doubt that by
allowing Cadac to intervene in the application
of Mr Nash, the SCA
has allowed for the expanding of the relief sought, and for the
amplification of the dispute in the main application
[4]
.
This has already occurred. The individual applicants’
intervention will not, at least at this stage, materially affect the
relief sought or the nature of the dispute in the main application.
[17] It is true that
based on the fact that Cadac’s business has been sold, its
legal standing to pursue the relief will be
questioned in the main
application, and if it is found that it lacks the necessary legal
standing then the review application falls
away. The intervention of
the individual applicants, if granted, will prevent this consequence.
That Mr Nash benefits greatly from
the amplification of the dispute
and expansion of the relief sought is neither doubtful nor debatable.
Mr Nash may well be taking
full advantage of this coincidence of
interests. I have to accept this claim of the curators, as
there is no denial of this
by the individual applicants, but this is
no ground to deny the intervention application. The fact that Mr Nash
benefits from their
review application is of no moment. The only
concern for the court is whether the decisions the curators have
taken constitutes
a reviewable irregularity. The curators, too,
should not be concerned with the fact that Mr Nash would benefit from
the review.
The review is based on, amongst others, an allegation
that the curators were unduly influenced by their desire to deprive
Mr Nash
of any benefit that may accrue to him by virtue of them
refusing to endorse and give effect to ‘Amendment No. 4’.
Should
this be found to be so, it may result in their decision being
reviewed and set aside.
[18] The SCA has, in
allowing Cadac to intervene in the main application (which was
initially Mr Nash’s application only),
and Ms Cronje, Ms
Schoeman and Ms Mays to intervene in the urgent application had this
to say:
‘
Essentially, in
the main application, Mr Nash, having been informed that his pension
benefits had been flagged, sought a declarator
that he was entitled
to his full pension benefits and an order that such benefits be paid
to him. Until March 2020 the appellants’
pension contributions
were accepted by the Fund. Indeed, the issues relating to the
management or administration of the Fund during
the period commencing
March 2003 were to be decided in the main application. The decision
by the curators to determine those issues
by excluding the appellants
from the Fund in March 2020 was take abruptly, without consulting the
appellants, at the start of the
national lockdown … The
decision to exclude them posed significant irreparable prejudice to
them as they would be left without
pension and related benefits. The
evidence was also that they would be liable for income tax on
the refunded contribution.’
[5]
[19]
The
facts have changed significantly since the SCA issued its order.
Subsequent thereto, many former employees of Cadac have approached
the curators indicating that they are unhappy with deductions being
made from their salaries each month and paid over to the Fund.
They
simply wish to accept the offer made by the curators and do not want
any monies deducted from their salaries and paid to the
Fund. They
have been informed that the curators do not have the power to halt
the deductions. For this to occur, they have to instruct
Cadac (or
Hudaco if it is doing so) to halt the deductions.
[6]
They have also been informed that as long as Cadac (or Hudaco if it
is doing so) pays over the monies deducted from their salaries
to the
Fund, the Fund has an obligation in terms of the SCA order to accept
the monies.
[20] The only applicants
who, without doubt, freely and voluntarily brought the application
are Mr Masitha and Mrs Forno-Nash.
[21] Mr Masitha has
indicated that he wishes to exit the Fund. While maintaining that he
did not lawfully become a member of the
Fund, the curators have
offered to award him benefits that have accrued to him had he been a
member of a defined contribution fund.
He has not accepted the offer.
He is thus entitled to intervene in the main application and make
common cause with Cadac in its
review of the decision of the
curators.
[22] Mrs Forno-Nash is
referred to in the founding affidavit as ‘Helena Fomo-Nash’
and not as Elena Forno-Nash. All
that is said of her in the founding
affidavit is that she is the managing director of Cadac and has been
admitted as a member of
the Fund ‘with effect from 1 May 2006.’
No further details are provided about her membership. It is common
cause though
that she was a trustee of the Fund just prior to the
Fund being placed in curatorship. She has deposed to the
founding affidavit
in Cadac’s application brought on 17
December 2021. In that affidavit she gives very little detail about
her membership of
the Fund. In that affidavit she concentrates on
showing that Mr Nash is a member and is entitled to the relief he
seeks. In fact,
she admits in that affidavit that Mr Nash’s
membership is central to the main application. She then concentrates
on exposing
the reviewable irregularities in the various decisions of
the curators which has prompted Cadac to bring the application. As
regards
her own membership she simply claims to be a member without
providing any detail thereto. Her membership has now been placed in
issue, and decisions have been taken by the curators regarding her
membership, which decisions have been highly prejudicial to
her
interests. She is entitled to defend her membership and claim the
rights and benefits that have accrued as a result of the
membership
by bringing an application to challenge those decisions taken by the
curators. Those decisions are the subject of the
review application
by Cadac, and would have been the subject of the application of the
individual applicants. As I remain unconvinced
that 32 of the
individual applicants are properly before court, it would in my view
be most prudent to dismiss the application
as regards them. Mrs
Forno-Nash should be allowed to bring a fresh application in her own
name. This would allow her to place all
the facts regarding her
membership before court. The curators can then answer to the
factual allegations in her affidavit.
Costs In The
Intervention Application
[23] As I am not
satisfied that the 32 of the applicants have instituted the
application it would be unfair to order them to pay
the costs. As for
the issue of the costs incurred by Mrs Forno-Nash it would be fair
and just that it be postponed
sine die
. Mr Masitha on the
other hand should be deprived of his costs as he has failed in his
duty of candour to this court.
The Sub-rule 35(13)
Application
[24]
While
awaiting a determination on their application to intervene, the
individual applicants brought an application in terms of sub-rule
35(13) asking that this court orders that the rules relating to
discovery in action proceedings are applicable to their review
application should they be allowed to intervene. They do not believe
that the filing of the record in terms of rule 53 is sufficient.
They
seek the curators to make discovery ‘in accordance with
sub-rule 35(1) of all relevant documents that may be applicable
to
the alteration, rescission, or addition to, any rules of the Fund’,
and granting them the right to seek further and better
discovery.
Aware that this relief is open ended, which any court would be very
hesitant to grant, they seek, in the alternative,
an order that is
extremely wide and that requires the curators to furnish documents
going back to 2008.
[7]
They are
essentially seeking access to almost all the documents that the
curators have had between 2008 and 2010 and between 2019
and 2020.
The documents, especially those that may be relevant from the period
2019 and 2020, have been included in the rule 53
record. The
documents from the 2008 to 2010 period are irrelevant. None of these
documents, in my view, bear any material relevance
to the decision of
the curators that is being impugned by either Mr Nash or Cadac or
themselves. Accordingly, I see no sound reason
to make the provisions
of sub-rule 35(13) applicable to their review application.
Articulated differently, the relief they seek
in the sub-rule 35(13)
application would result in a full-blown examination of the conduct
of the curators since the inception
of the curatorship. This falls
well outside the scope of their rule 53 application. The
application, I hold, is misconceived
and warrants a costs order
against Mr Masitha as he is the only applicant that is allowed to
intervene in the main application
and therefore he is the only
applicant that is before court in the sub-rule 35(13) application.
Order
[25] The following order
is made:
a.
In the Intervention
application
i. The application
by first to the seventh and the ninth to the thirty-fourth applicants
to intervene in main application is dismissed.
ii. The second applicant,
Elena Forno-Nash, is granted leave to, within 15 days of this order,
institute an application in her own
name to intervene and join in the
main application.
iii. The eighth applicant
is granted leave to institute this application and hereby authorised
to intervene in the main application.
iv. The issue of
costs incurred by the second applicant in this application is
postponed
sine
die
.
v. Save for paragraph iv
above, there is no order as to the costs of the intervention
application.
b.
In the discovery
application
i. The application
is dismissed
ii. The eighth applicant
is ordered to pay the costs of the application.
B VALLY
JUDGE OF THE HIGH COURT
JOHANNESBURG
For
the applicants:
D
Vetten
Instructed
by
Darryl
Furman & Associates
For
the 3
rd
- 6
th
respondents:
Wasserman
SC
Instructed
by
Assheton-Smith
Ginsberg Inc
Date of hearing: 17 March
2023
Date of judgment:
19 May 2023
[1]
His application of 9 December 2019
[2]
In their notice of motion, they ask that the rules relating to
discovery in action proceedings be made applicable to their review
application. However, they want their review application to be part
of the main application, so if they succeed in the intervention
application as well as in their rule 35(13) application then the
rules relating to discovery in action proceedings would be made
applicable in the main application and not only in their review
application.
[3]
In fact, in all the litigation post the appointment of the other two
curators, Mr Johan Esterhuizen and Ms Karen Keevy, the affidavits
on
behalf of the curators have been deposed to by Mr Mostert
[4]
The main application is brought by both Mr Nash and Cadac (who have
been granted authorisation by the SCA to intervene in Mr
Nash’s
application).
[5]
Simon
Nash and Others v The Cadac Pension Fund (In Curatorship)
(Registration Number: 12/8/0020425) and Others
[2021]
ZASCA 144
(11 October 2021) at [19]
[6]
It is not clear on the papers if Hudaco – which has purchased
Cadac’s business as a going concern – still continue
to
deduct monies from any ex-Cadac employee and pay it over to the
Fund.
[7]
They seek an order compelling the curators to supplement the record:
‘
2.1 with all
documents‘disclosing the rights of any creditor during the
period 2008 to 2010 and for the period 2008 to 2010
and 2019/ 2020.
‘
2.2 For the
period 2008-2010 and 2019/2020:
2.2.1 Copies of all
resolutions or proposed resolutions for the proposed alteration or
rescission of any rule or for the adoption
of any additional rules;
2.2.2 Copies of
(a)
any reports and/or certificates issued by the
valuator of the Fund, alternatively if no valuator was appointed,
(b)
statement by the Fund, as to the financial
soundness of the Fund, having regard to the rates of contributions
by employers and,
if the Fund was not in a sound financial
condition,
(c)
a statement by the Fund recording what
arrangements have been made to bring the Fund into a sound financial
condition,
pertaining to or in
connection with any alteration, rescission or addition to the rules
and its effect upon the financial condition
of the Fund.
2.3
Any correspondence with the Financial Sector
Conduct Authority (“FSCA”) (and its predecessor the
Financial Services
Board (“FSB”)) of and pertaining to
the alteration, rescission, addition or amendment of any rule or the
making of
any additional rule.
2.4
All information pertaining to the financial
condition of the Fund during the period 2008 to 2010, as well as the
period 2019 to
2020.
2.5
Any correspondence between the Fund and the Registrar of the FSCA or
the FSB pertaining to any consolidation of the
Fund’s Rules.
sino noindex
make_database footer start
Similar Cases
Cronje and Another v Forgeweld Engineering (Pty) Ltd and Others (96943/2016) [2024] ZAGPPHC 816 (22 August 2024)
[2024] ZAGPPHC 816High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Pretoria)99% similar
Coetzer v Wesbank A Division of Firstrand Bank Limited (7439/2020) [2024] ZAGPJHC 637 (10 July 2024)
[2024] ZAGPJHC 637High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Johannesburg)98% similar
Cilliers and Others v Minister of Safety and Security (2007/62) [2024] ZAGPJHC 67 (31 January 2024)
[2024] ZAGPJHC 67High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Johannesburg)98% similar
Zondi and Others v S (A66/2023) [2023] ZAGPJHC 975 (28 August 2023)
[2023] ZAGPJHC 975High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Johannesburg)98% similar
C.C.M v MEC For Health, Gauteng (10242/2017) [2023] ZAGPJHC 381 (25 April 2023)
[2023] ZAGPJHC 381High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Johannesburg)98% similar