Case Law[2023] ZAGPJHC 1293South Africa
Apostolic Faith Mission South Africa, Randburg Assembly v Arrowhead Properties Limited and Others (2020/13298) [2023] ZAGPJHC 1293 (10 November 2023)
High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Johannesburg)
10 November 2023
Headnotes
by the lessor (“the Second Ground of Appeal”).
Judgment
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## Apostolic Faith Mission South Africa, Randburg Assembly v Arrowhead Properties Limited and Others (2020/13298) [2023] ZAGPJHC 1293 (10 November 2023)
Apostolic Faith Mission South Africa, Randburg Assembly v Arrowhead Properties Limited and Others (2020/13298) [2023] ZAGPJHC 1293 (10 November 2023)
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sino date 10 November 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF
SOUTH AFRICA
GAUTENG LOCAL
DIVISION, JOHANNESBURG
CASE NO:
2020/13298
NOT REPORTABLE
NOT OF INTEREST TO OTHER
JUDGES
REVISED
In
the matter between:
APOSTOLIC
FAITH MISSION SOUTH AFRICA,
RANDBURG
ASSEMBLY
Applicant
And
ARROWHEAD
PROPERTIES LIMITED
First
Respondent
EXCELLERATE
REAL ESTATE SERVICES (PTY) LTD
t/a
JHI PROPERTIES (PTY) LTD
Second
Respondent
CUMULATIVE
PROPERTIES LTD
Third
Respondent
UNLOCKED
PROPERTIES 23 (PTY) LTD
Fourth
Respondent
MAFADI
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (PTY) LTD
Fifth
Respondent
J U D G M E N T
(LEAVE TO APPEAL)
NEL AJ
[1] This is an
application for Leave to Appeal against a portion of the Order
granted by me in an opposed application instituted
by the Applicant.
[2] The Applicant seeks
leave to appeal to the Full Court of the Gauteng Provincial Division,
alternatively the Gauteng Local Division,
alternatively to the
Supreme Court of Appeal.
[3] The portions of the
Order appealed against are the following:
[3.1] The dismissal of
the Applicant’s claim for a reconciliation and subsequent
payment of a rental deposit;
[3.2] The payment by the
Applicant of the costs of the First, Second and Third Respondents;
and
[3.3] The payment by the
Applicant of the costs of the Fourth Respondent as from 5 November
2020 up to, and including the date of
the hearing.
[4] The Applicant does
not seek leave to appeal against the portion of the Order in which I
ordered the Fourth Respondent to pay
the Applicant’s costs up
to 14 November 2020 on the Magistrate’s Court scale.
[5] In the Opposed
Application the Applicant sought the following relief:
[5.1] That the
Respondents are ordered to pay, jointly and severally, the one paying
to pay the other to be absolved, the amount
of R243 533.07 to
the Applicant;
[5.2] In the alternative:
[5.2.1] that the
Respondents be ordered to provide the Applicant, within 7 days from
the date of the Order, with a reconciliation
account reflecting all
transactions, including the rental deposit, in respect of the rental
administration relating to the Applicant’s
lease of certain
premises, for the period from 1 October 2014 to 28 February 2019;
[5.2.2] that the
Respondent or Respondents who are in possession of the Applicant’s
rental deposit or the balance thereof,
be ordered to make payment of
that amount to the Applicant within 7 days from the date of delivery
of the reconciliation account;
[5.3] That the
Respondents pay, jointly and severally, the one to pay the other to
be absolved, the costs of the Application on
the scale as between
attorney and own client;
[5.4] Further and/or
alternative relief.
[6] After having read the
papers and having heard argument on behalf of all of the parties, I
granted an order in the terms as already
set out above in paragraphs
[3] and [4].
NOTICE OF APPLICATION
FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL
[7] The Applicant has
raised the following grounds of appeal (supported by submissions
relating to the various grounds of appeal)
in its Notice of
Application for Leave to Appeal:
[7.1] That I erred in
granting the relief as set out in the Order, in respect of which the
Applicant seeks leave to appeal (“the
First Ground of Appeal”).
[7.2] That I erred in
failing to “
properly apply legal principle and requirement
”
that a tenant in the position of the Applicant, who paid a rental
deposit to a lessor, is entitled to receive a complete
reconciliation
from the lessor regarding the rental deposit held by the lessor (“the
Second Ground of Appeal”).
[7.3] That I erred in
ordering the Applicant to pay costs, after “
incorrectly
making observations and findings regarding the obligation to provide
reconciliation”
to the Applicant relating to the rental
deposit paid by the Applicant (“the Third Ground of Appeal”).
[7.4] That I erred in
failing to find that the Respondents only reacted to providing
information and making payment after receipt
of the Applicant’s
application, and that the Applicant was indeed substantially
successful, “
after incorrectly making observations regarding
the duty to provide a reconciliation
” (“the Fourth
Ground of Appeal”).
[8] At the hearing of the
Application for Leave to Appeal the Applicant’s counsel only
made certain specific submissions in
respect of the Second Ground of
Appeal which I will deal with below.
[9] Despite submissions
only being made in respect of the Second Ground of Appeal, I have in
any event considered all of the grounds
of appeal as raised in the
Notice of Application for Leave to Appeal, and will deal with them
separately below.
THE RELEVANT FACTUAL
MATRIX OF THE APPLICATION
[10] On 4 July 2014 the
Apostolic Faith Mission and the First Respondent, Arrowhead
Properties Limited (“Arrowhead”)
concluded a written
Lease Agreement (“the First Lease Agreement”) in terms of
which the Apostolic Faith Mission Leased
Premises situated in
Randburg, to be used as a church (“the Leased Premises”),
from Arrowhead.
[11] In terms of the
First Lease Agreement the Apostolic Faith Mission was required to pay
a deposit of R 243 533.07 to
Arrowhead, which deposit
amount was duly paid by the Apostolic Faith Mission.
[12] Prior to the expiry
of the First Lease Agreement, the Leased Premises were sold by
Arrowhead to the Third Respondent, Cumulative
Properties Limited
(“Cumulative”). The Apostolic Faith Mission and
Cumulative concluded a written Lease Agreement
(“the Second
Lease Agreement”), which Lease Agreement would endure for one
year.
[13] The Leased Premises
were thereafter sold by Cumulative to the Fourth Respondent, Unlocked
Properties 23 (Pty) Ltd (“Unlocked”).
During the
period that the Leased Premises were owned by Arrowhead and
Cumulative, the Second Respondent, Excellerate Real Estate
Services
(Pty) Ltd t/a JHI Properties (Pty) Ltd (“Excellerate”)
was appointed as the Managing Agent for Arrowhead and
Cumulative.
[14] During the period
that the Leased Premises were owned by Unlocked, the Leased Premises
were managed by the Fifth Respondent,
Mafadi Property Management
(Pty) Ltd (“Mafadi”).
[15] The lease agreement
in respect of the Leased Premises terminated on 31 January 2019, and
the Apostolic Faith Mission vacated
the Leased Premises, by 28
February 2019.
THE REASONING AS SET
OUT IN THE JUDGMENT
[16] The Apostolic Faith
Mission is clearly entitled to repayment of the rental deposit amount
paid by it as security in respect
of the Leased Premises, provided
that it had complied with its contractual obligations.
[17] It was not disputed
by any of the Respondents that the rental deposit amount, or such
portion thereof that may be owing to
the Apostolic Faith Mission was
to be repaid to the Apostolic Faith Mission.
[18] Unlocked accepted
that it is the particular Respondent that has the obligation to repay
the rental deposit amount to the Apostolic
Faith Mission, it being
the ultimate Lessor.
[19] The initial amount
of the rental deposit that would have been repayable to the Apostolic
Faith Mission was R243 533.07.
[20] Unlocked was
therefore obliged to repay the rental deposit, less any amounts that
may have been required to discharge the Apostolic
Faith Mission’s
obligations within a period of three months after the termination of
the Lease Agreement (or the vacation
of the Leased Premises).
[21] In the Replying
Affidavit of the Apostolic Faith Mission, it was stated that
Cumulative had indicated in correspondence that
an amount of
R42 174.86 would be deducted from the rental deposit amount of
R243 533.07 leaving a balance of R201 358.21,
which would
be paid over to Unlocked.
[22] In the Replying
Affidavit, the Apostolic Faith Mission described the amount of
R201 358.21 as “
in fact the exact amount being the
remainder of Applicant’s deposit
”. There was
also reference to the deduction of the amount of R42 174.86 from
the initial deposit amount in the
Founding Affidavit of the Apostolic
Faith Mission.
[23] The Apostolic Faith
Mission clearly accepted that the amount transferred to Unlocked,
being R201 358.21 was the rental
deposit amount that would be
repayable by Unlocked to the Apostolic Faith Mission at the
termination of the lease period.
[24] The Apostolic Faith
Mission also accepted that in terms of the Second Lease Agreement,
Unlocked was entitled to deduct any
arrear amounts from the rental
deposit amount.
[25] In the Answering
Affidavit, Unlocked alleged that the Apostolic Faith Mission was in
arrears in an amount of R143 586.68.
In the Apostolic
Faith Mission’s Replying Affidavit filed in response to
Unlocked’s Answering Affidavit, the
Apostolic Faith Mission
admitted that it was indebted to Unlocked in an amount of R81 974.74.
[26] In the Replying
Affidavit, the Apostolic Faith Mission therefore contended that the
amount due to it was R162 133.53,
together with interest
thereon. Such amount was clearly calculated by deducting the
admitted arrears due to Unlocked (R81 974.74)
from the initial
rental deposit amount of R243 533.07.
[27] Such calculation
ignored that an amount of R42 174.86 had already been deducted
from the rental deposit of R243 533.07,
leaving the balance of
the rental deposit paid to Unlocked as being R201 358.21, which
the Apostolic Faith Mission had already
accepted as being the rental
deposit amount.
[28] The admitted
indebtedness to Unlocked of R81 974.74 should accordingly have
been deducted from the amount of R201 358.21,
and not the amount
of R243 533.07. Upon a proper calculation, the deposit
rental amount repayable to the Apostolic Faith
Mission by Unlocked as
alleged by the Apostolic Faith Mission, was R119 383.47 and not
R162 133.53.
[29] As at 14 November
2020, Unlocked had made payment of an amount of R149 254.77 to
the Apostolic Faith Mission. Unlocked
alleged in a
Supplementary Affidavit that the Apostolic Faith Mission had
therefore been paid “
the full balance of the deposit that is
due to it
”.
[30] In the Replying
Affidavit, the Apostolic Faith Mission did not dispute such
allegation but pointed out that it had to launch
the Application in
order to obtain a response from the Respondents and complained of the
“
obstructive behaviour
” of the Respondents.
The Apostolic Faith Mission referred to the “
belated
calculations
” of Unlocked but did not suggest that the
calculations were wrong or inaccurate.
[31] Having regard to the
calculations referred to above, I concluded that Unlocked had
overpaid the Apostolic Faith Mission, even
taking into account the
interest payable on the balance of the rental deposit that was
repayable.
[32] I accordingly found
that no further amounts were repayable by Unlocked (or any of the
other Respondents) to the Apostolic Faith
Mission.
LEGAL PRINCIPLES
APPLICABLE TO AN APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL
[33]
Section 17(1)
of the
Superior Courts Act, No. 10 of 2013
, as amended, reads as follows:
“
17(1) Leave to
appeal may only be given where the judge or judges concerned are of
the opinion that –
(a)(i) the
appeal would have a reasonable prospect of success; or
(ii) there is
some other compelling reason why the appeal should be heard,
including conflicting judgments on the matter under consideration;
or
(b) the decision
sought on appeal does not fall within the ambit of
Section 16(2)(a)
;
and
(c) where the decision
sought to be appealed does not dispose of all the issues in the case,
the appeal would lead to a just and
prompt resolution of the real
issues between the parties.
”
[34]
In the
matter of
The
Mont Chevaux Trust v Tina Goosen and 18 Others
[1]
it was held as follows:
“
It is clear
that the threshold for granting leave to appeal against a judgment of
a High Court has been raised in the new Act. …
The use of the
word ‘would’ in the new statute indicates a measure of
certainty that another Court will differ from
the Court whose
judgment is sought to be appealed against.”
[35]
In the
matter of
Acting
National Director of Public Prosecutions and Others v Democratic
Alliance, in re Democratic Alliance v Acting National Director
of
Public Prosecutions and Others
[2]
the Full Bench of the Gauteng Division held that the
Superior Courts
Act has
raised the bar for granting leave to appeal and referred to
the extract from the
Mont
Chevaux Trust
matter referred to above.
[36] Whilst it is clear
that the threshold for granting leave to appeal against a judgment of
a High Court has been raised, it was
not precisely clear what was
meant by the phrase “
a measure of certainty
”, as
set out in the
Mount Chevaux
matter.
[37]
In the
unreported matter of
Valley
of the Kings Thaba Motswere (Pty) Ltd and Another v L Mayya
International
[3]
the Court stated that it was of the view that the “
measure
of certainty
”
standard propounded by the Judge in the
Mont
Chevaux Trust
matter may be placing the bar too high, and that it would be
unreasonably onerous to require an applicant for leave to appeal to
convince a judge, who invariably would have provided extensive
reasons for his or her findings and conclusions, that there is a
“
measure
of certainty
”
that another Court will upset those findings.
[38] The Court in the
Valley of the Kings
matter held that a judge is still required
to consider, objectively and dispassionately, whether there are
reasonable prospects
that another Court will find merits in arguments
advanced by the losing party.
[39]
In the
matter of
The
Member of the Executive Council: Health and Social Development,
Gauteng Province v Daphne Mthimkulu
[4]
the Court, in considering the more stringent threshold, stated
[5]
that
Section 17(1)
should not be interpreted as setting the bar so
high as to effectively deny an applicant any chance of being granted
leave to appeal,
as it could not be what the legislature intended.
[40]
I am of the
view that there can be no doubt that the use of the word “would”
in
Section 17(1)(a)(1)
of the
Superior Courts Act, indicates
that the
test for leave to appeal is now more onerous
[6]
,
and that an applicant for leave to appeal must satisfy the court
whose judgment is sought to be appealed against, that the appeal
would have a reasonable prospect of success.
[41]
The test of
reasonable prospects of success was set out by the Supreme Court of
Appeal in the matter of
S
v Smith
[7]
.
The Supreme Court of appeal stated
[8]
:
“
In order to
succeed, therefore, the appellant must convince this court on proper
grounds that he has prospects of success on appeal
and that those
prospects are not remote, but have a realistic chance of succeeding.
More is required to be established than
that there is a mere
possibility of success, that the case is arguable on appeal, or that
the case cannot be categorised as hopeless.
There must, in
other words, be a sound, rational basis for the conclusion that there
are prospects of success on appeal.”
[42]
In the
matter of
Hunter
v Financial Services Board
[9]
the Court stated as follows
[10]
:
“
An appeal will
have prospects of success if it is arguable in the narrow sense of
the word. It requires that the argument
advanced by an
applicant in support of an application for leave to appeal must have
substance. The notion that a point of
law is arguable on
appeal, entails some degree of merit in the argument. The
argument, however, need not be convincing at
the stage when leave to
appeal is sought, but it must have a measure of plausibility.
”
[43] It is clear that an
applicant for leave to appeal must convince the Court hearing the
application for leave to appeal that
its prospects of success on
appeal are realistic, based on substantiated and rational grounds.
THE FIRST GROUND OF
APPEAL
[44] The First Ground of
Appeal is simply a general statement that I erred in failing to grant
the relief as sought by the Applicant.
[45] In support of the
First Ground of Appeal the Applicant stated that I should have held
that:
[45.1] “
The
evasive and obstructive actions
” by the Respondents
necessitated the launching of the application for relief by the
Applicant;
[45.2] The Applicant was
entitled to receive a reconciliation of account in relation to the
rental deposit paid by the Applicant
in terms of the lease agreement,
from the Respondents, for the full period of the Applicant’s
tenancy;
[45.3] The Applicant was
entitled to demand and receive repayment of the rental deposit paid
by the Applicant;
[45.4] The Applicant was
entitled to the costs of the application.
[46] As regards the first
statement made, it is clear that the Applicant was required to launch
an application for the relief as
sought by the Applicant and for
payment of its rental deposit, and the necessity of such conduct was
reflected in the cost order
as made by me.
[47] As regards the
statement that the Applicant was entitled to receive a reconciliation
of account in respect of the rental deposit
paid, having regard to
the factual allegations made in the affidavits, it became unnecessary
to order a reconciliation of account
in respect of the rental
deposit, as the amount of the rental deposit repayable to the
Applicant could easily be calculated, having
regard to the
Applicant’s own version.
[48] As regards the
statement that the Applicant was entitled to demand and receive
repayment of the rental deposit, the Applicant
did indeed receive
repayment of such portion of the rental deposit that was owing to the
Applicant.
[49] As regards the final
statement that the Applicant was entitled to the costs of the
application, the Applicant was granted the
costs of the application
insofar as the Applicant was entitled to payment of its costs, by the
Fourth Respondent, for the period
until 14 November 2020.
[50] In the
circumstances, the First general Ground of Appeal is without merit,
and would certainly not justify an appeal process.
THE SECOND GROUND OF
APPEAL
[51] The Second Ground of
Appeal raised by the Applicant is that I erred when I failed to
“
properly apply legal principle and requirement that a
tenant who paid a rental deposit to a landlord, is entitled to
receive complete
reconciliation from the landlord regarding the
rental deposit held by the landlord.”
[52] The first submission
made in support of the Second Ground of appeal was that I erred when
I held in the Judgment that the nature
of the relief that the
Applicant sought was essentially a statement and debatement.
[53] The Applicant
contended that I misinterpreted the nature of the relief sought by
the Applicant, as the Applicant required a
reconciliation in respect
of all transactions relating to the rental deposit paid by the
Applicant. It must of course not
be forgotten that in addition
to such reconciliation the Applicant also sought repayment of the
rental deposit or any portion of
the rental deposit due to the
Applicant.
[54] In the
circumstances, there is no distinction between the relief of a
reconciliation and payment, and the relief of a statement
and
debatement and payment.
[55] The term “
statement
and debatement
” is simply the appropriate legal term for
the nature of the relief sought by the Applicant, despite it being
described in
the Notice of Motion as a reconciliation and payment
thereafter.
[56] In the
circumstances, I am satisfied that there is no merit in the
suggestion that I misinterpreted the nature of the alternative
relief
sought by the Applicant.
[57] In any event, and as
already set out above, there was no basis for the granting of an
order for reconciliation, and even if
the description of the relief
sought as being a statement and debatement is incorrect, it would not
impact on the Order granted.
[58] It was also
submitted in support of the statement that I erred in describing the
relief sought as a statement and debatement,
that the purpose of the
application related to the rental deposit paid by the Applicant, and
that the reconciliation sought required
the details of the deposit
amounts’ “
whereabouts
”, the
“
possible/alleged
” use of the rental deposit money
that all three of the landlords were each individually obliged to
provide a reconciliation
for the rental deposit for the different
time periods when it was in their respective possession.
[59] There is simply no
basis for such submissions. The Applicant’s claim for a
reconciliation and the payment of any
amounts that may be found to be
due to the Applicant, are clearly contractually based, and may only
be sought from the lessor in
control of the Leased Premises at the
time that the lease agreement terminated and the rental deposit
became repayable.
[60] There is simply no
reason for any of the previous lessors to provide a reconciliation of
the rental deposit amount, particularly
having regard to the facts of
the matter, being that at the time that the rental deposit amount was
paid to Unlocked by the previous
lessor, the Applicant agreed that
the amount of the rental deposit had been reduced to R201 358.21,
and described such amount
as “
the exact amount being the
remainder of Applicant’s deposit
”.
[61] In the
circumstances, it is entirely unnecessary to require a reconciliation
from any previous lessors, when it is factually
known what the rental
deposit amount was at the time of Unlocked becoming the lessor of the
Leased Premises.
[62] It was further
submitted in respect of the Second Ground of Appeal that I correctly
found that the issue in the application
was about the repayment of
the rental deposit money and the amount of the rental deposit money
to be repaid to the Applicant, but
that I erred in finding that the
Applicant was able to calculate the amount to be repaid to the
Applicant.
[63] It is correct that
the Applicant only became aware of the necessary information to
enable it to calculate the amount of the
rental deposit repayable to
it, shortly prior to the hearing of the application, and that the
Applicant was forced to launch the
application in order to obtain a
proper reconciliation from the lessor. Such conduct has been
clearly reflected in the manner
of the costs order made by me, in
terms of which Unlocked was ordered to pay the Applicant’s
costs from the inception of
the application until 14 November 2020,
despite the Applicant’s claim for a reconciliation and
subsequent payment of rental
deposit being dismissed.
[64] The Second Ground of
Appeal is similarly without substance, and certainly does not render
the Order appealable.
THE THIRD GROUND OF
APPEAL
[65] The Third Ground of
Appeal raised is that I erred, when after “
incorrectly
making observations and findings regarding the obligation to provide
reconciliation to the Applicant about the rental
deposit money paid
by the Applicant,
” I ordered the Applicant to pay costs.
[66] The submissions made
in support of the Third Ground of Appeal were that I did not properly
consider that the failure to provide
information and a reconciliation
continued until after the launching of the application, despite many
reasonable requests to do
so, and that I failed to properly consider
that Unlocked deliberately ignored all reasonable requests to provide
information and
a reconciliation.
[67] It was submitted
that a Court of Appeal would find that the three respective
landlords, being Arrowhead, Cumulative and Unlocked
only reacted
after the launching of the application, and that the Applicant was
therefore substantially successful in launching
the application, and
that the Applicant would be entitled to the costs of the application.
[68] As fully set out in
the Judgment, there was simply no need to institute an application
against the First, Second, Third and
Fifth Respondents, being
Arrowhead, Excellerate, Cumulative and Mafadi. The submission
made during the hearing of the application
in such regard was
essentially that the Applicant contended that it had to sue all five
respondents on the basis that it did not
know which of the
Respondents held the rental deposit amount. A secondary reason
submitted was that the Apostolic Faith Mission
sued all five
respondents as a result of their obstructive conduct.
[69] The Applicant’s
legal representatives should have been well aware that Excellerate
and Mafadi were merely the agents
of the three lessors and that the
agents could never be sued for the conduct or obligations of the
lessors.
[70] Even if the
Applicant was disgruntled by the responses, or the lack of responses,
constituting the “
obstructive conduct
”, it
certainly did not create a cause of action as against any of the
Respondents.
[71] The obligation to
repay the rental deposit lay with Unlocked, being the contractually
bound lessor at the time of the termination
of the lease agreement,
and at the time that the rental deposit amount (or such portion
thereof that may be owing), became repayable
to the Applicant.
[72] It was entirely
irrelevant which of the lessors physically held the rental deposit
amount, as the aspect of repayment was the
obligation of Unblocked.
[73]
In the
Judgment I refer to the matter of
Spearhead
Property Holdings (Pty) Ltd v END Motors (Pty) Ltd
[11]
where the Supreme Court of Appeal stated the following:
“
This much is,
however, settled in our law: successors-in-title to owners of leased
property are bound to recognise the existence
of the lease and an
ex
legae
substitution of the purchaser for the lessor/seller
takes place in the lease upon sale of such property. Thus the
rule relieves
the seller of all rights and obligations flowing from
the lease which are transferred to the buyer on transfer.”
[74] There can
accordingly be no doubt that as from the date of purchase of the
Leased Premises by Unlocked, being 6 August 2018,
any obligation to
repay any rental deposit became that of Unlocked, and the previous
lessors were relieved of such obligation.
The identity of the
holder of the rental deposit amount is accordingly irrelevant, and
the lack of knowledge on the part of the
Applicant as to which lessor
physically held the rental amount, did not justify the claim against
all five respondents.
[75] In the
circumstances, the seeking of relief as against the other four
respondents was not justifiable, and was certainly not
based on any
proper legal basis.
[76] In the circumstances
I find that there is no merit in the Third Ground of Appeal.
THE FOURTH GROUND OF
APPEAL
[77] The Fourth Ground of
Appeal is simply that I erred when “
after incorrectly making
observations regarding the duty to provide reconciliation
”
I failed to find that the Respondents only reacted to provide
information and make payment after being served with the Applicant’s
application, and that the Applicant was therefore “
substantially
successful
”.
[78] The Fourth Ground of
Appeal clearly overlaps with the First and Third Grounds of Appeal,
and as already set out above, and
for the reasons set out in the
Judgment, I clearly had regard to the conduct of Unblocked, and I
made the costs order in the manner
as granted, being that Unlocked
was to pay the Applicant’s costs up to 14 November 2020.
PROSPECTS OF SUCCESS
ON APPEAL
[79] As set out above, an
application for leave to appeal must satisfy the Court that there are
reasonable prospects that another
Court will find merit in the
applicant’s argument, and that the appeal would have a
reasonable prospect of success.
[80] The applicant must
also show, based on substantial grounds, that it has realistic
prospects of success on appeal.
[81] The Applicant in
this Application for Leave to Appeal has not been able to demonstrate
that there are any reasonable prospects
of success on appeal.
[82] I am of the view
that there are no prospects of success on appeal at all.
[83] Having regard to
what is set out in the Judgment and as set out above, I am satisfied
that there are no prospects of success
on appeal, and accordingly
make the following order:
[83.1] The Application
for Leave to Appeal is dismissed;
[83.2] The Applicant is
to pay the Respondents’ costs of the Application for Leave to
Appeal.
G NEL
[Acting Judge of the
High Court,
Gauteng Local
Division,
Johannesburg]
Date Heard
:
31 October 2022
Date of Judgment
:
10 November 2023
APPEARANCES
:
For the Applicant
:
Adv J C Klopper
Instructed by
:
Louis Benn Attorney
For the First, Second
And Third Respondents
:
Adv R Shepstone
Instructed by
Richmond Attorneys
For the Fourth
Respondent
: Adv W Pye SC
Instructed by
:
Shaie Zindel Attorneys
[1]
2014 JDR 2325 (LCC) at para 6.
[2]
2016 JDR 1211 (GP).
[3]
(EL926/2016, 2226/2016) [2016] ZAECGHC 137 (10 November 2016).
[4]
[2018] ZAGPJHC 405 (21 May 2018).
[5]
At para 35
[6]
S
v Notshokovu
2016
JDR 1647 (SCA),
[2016] ZASCA 112
;
Nwafor
v Minister of Home Affairs
2021 JDR 0948 (SCA).
[7]
2012 (1) SACR 567
(SCA).
[8]
At para 7.
[9]
3 (3275/2016) [2017] ZAGPPHC 258 (16 March 2017).
[10]
At para 5.
[11]
2010 (2) SA 1
(SCA).
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