Practice News
- AI and its potential in taking (legal) jobs away has been much in the news: the following article is quite interesting and has a completely different take on the issue: https://artificialauthority.ai/p/the-lump-of-law-fallacy
Going sideways; if this sort of thing tickles your fancy, look up the ‘Jevons paradox’.
- Practitioners and such:
- the SIU wants the NPA to delegate powers of prosecution to it; see it’s not just us who think this!
- You must have heard the Gepf offering early retirement on the radio – some 47 experienced prosecution staff members had departed the NPA at the end of April this year. That entity was taken on as it reportedly cites capacity constraints, skill shortages, large caseloads, and the complexity of corruption prosecutions, for its poor performance. ‘Nuff said.
- The Legal Sector Charter Council has taken on society generally on its discriminatory procurement policies in that it prefers to brief large white firms who, in turn, prefer briefing white advocates. Its CEO says that 72% of partners, at our top six law firms, are white.
- A Lesotho judgement, by its constitutional court, ruled that judges must complete their judgements after retirement, be paid a salary whilst completing that work, and would not be entitled to pension prior to the completion of the outstanding judgement: https://lexafrica.com/2026/05/the-rise-of-evergreen-contracts/
- ARD: a case on international arbitration in South Africa, highlights the role of ARD in legal proceedings of late. https://www.cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com/en/news/publications/2026/South-Africa/Dispute-Resolution/dispute-resolution-alert-9-june-2026-fraud-finality-and-the-uncitral-three-month-time-limitation
- Moneyweb reports that Standard Bank has launched Shari’ah compliant floor plan financing options. I checked; Absa, FNB and Al Baraka bank also offers such services.
Hard news
- Business rescue may include a reset of ownership, in the sense of issuing new shares and cancelling existing shareholding: https://werksmans.com/business-rescue-recapitalisations-upheld-the-legal-and-commercial-significance-of-white-rivers-exploration-v-polsun/?
- Expropriation, in order to avoid the obligations that would follow on an eviction order (think providing alternative accommodation to occupiers) amounts to the arbitrary deprivation of property: https://werksmans.com/the-rule-of-law-remains-paramount-lessons-from-city-of-tshwane-metropolitan-municipality-v-summer-season-trading-63-pty-ltd?
- Remaining silent (in labour negotiations) could amount to misrepresentation: https://www.webberwentzel.com/News/Pages/non-disclosure-as-fraudulent-misrepresentation-in-contract-negotiations.aspx
- If a pension fund will not pay dependents because more than 12 months had passed, after the death of the policy holder, you may want to read this article: https://www.cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com/en/news/publications/2026/South-Africa/Employment-Law/employment-law-alert-22-june-Is-there-a-time-period-within-which-to-distribute-the-payment-of-a-death-benefit
- I have been waiting for this article for some time – what happens to a contractor who is awarded an invalid contract by a state entity, owing to the negligence of that entity; https://werksmans.com/constitutional-court-clarifies-rights-of-innocent-contractors-under-invalid-state-contracts?
- Investigator, prosecutor and adjudicator in one case; disciplinary proceedings against a member: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZASCA/2026/89.html
- The following case has no real legal merit, but is interesting in that the municipality of Tshwane, in my opinion, was being unreasonable about a disconnection and the adjudication of the underlying issue. There is also mention of an official offering to bypass the procedure for a little something, corruption in the ranks: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2026/640.html
- A scanned but lost will and the ‘rebuttal principle’ (at 37): https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2026/631.html
Conveyancing
- The following case is quite rare; transfer was registered without the purchase price having been paid. Restitution: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2026/327.html
- Dies cedit & venit in a usufruct – does the usufructuary heir have letting rights to the inherited property, prior to the liquidation account being approved? https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAKZDHC/2026/34.html;
- Can a restriction, imposed by a body corporate, on the use of an application, generating access codes for third parties, constitute spoliation? The decision was that the restriction was not a disposition of property but a withdrawal of service, which gave rise to serious convenience issues. https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/2026/695.html
- Unsigned sale contract invalid: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAKZDHC/2026/32.html
- The Pretoria Registrar of Deeds has issued a notice (3/2025), saying that that these offers would accept electronically issued newspaper advertisements. Ex West.
Property
Trends:
- There is no up-to-date, publicly available, information on property price trends save that published by Ooba which does not reflect the latest interest rate rise. Nevertheless, that entity reflects time in the market as nationally, 12 weeks. The Property 24 property sale graph reflect a slightly lower number of sales than that of last year. The latest news on Consumer Confidence from the BER reflects a nosedive.
- An interesting development is that estate–living is increasingly focusing less on admin-only function (a grudge-purchase) and moving to add-ons by offering quality of life improvements such as electricity supplements and so on.
- Codera published a graph showing a decrease in residential and non–residential building plans passed and completed – somewhat glum:
News:
- The issue of registration of rooftop solar installations, is back in the news; apparently house owners, having these, should register by 30 September.
- Property owners were notified by the Surveyor General of a new Property Viewer system which may be found at https://csggis.dlrrd.gov.za/portal/apps/experiencebuilder/experience/?id=a9a8f908e82c443b9cb7bede69f5985e
- Cape Town is pushing to rate owners, letting properties on Airbnb, at commercial rather than residential rates. There has been much said on the issue, most of this driven by municipal need and ownership distress!
- The construction mafia is alive and well! The State intent to close these down has simply resulted in a shift from open intimidation to financial coercion, by embedding demands for what is termed ‘local business interests! A rose by another name.
- Only 15% of our municipalities have achieved a clean audit outcome from the Auditor General. Our eight metros are still in financial audit decline.
- Appliance damage, owing to power surges, are common: your insurer will cover this, but the problem is whether the cost of proving the cause of damage will not be more than the cost of the appliance.
Legal stuff
- Much in the news has been the amendment of the proposed PIE amendment act. The problem is that eviction involves a clash of two constitutional rights, i.e. property ownership and the right to housing. Prof Boshoff (UP) opined that the one clear improvement in the new act would be strictures on organised criminality, leading to occupation of buildings. A wonderful comment by Jeffrey, reflected on the right of illegal occupiers in dysfunctional state buildings, to alternative accommodation, which the parlous state finances simply cannot meet; meaning that the state cannot afford what it imposes on its citizens.
- Frustrated homeowners should watch their comments on WhatsApp groups as defamation of bodies corporate, and so on, cannot necessarily be justified by the problem experienced by the relevant owner.
- A recent decision by the SCA held that the CPA does not apply to leases by property owners, where leasing does not form part of that owner’s business. Dated but worth noting.
- An article on the general rights and obligations of tenants, might be of interest to the general public: https://madeleyn.co.za/2026/06/01/rental-crisis-hits-the-western-cape/
- Who fixes what in sectional title bodies corporate: https://stbb.co.za/all-about-property-storm-damage-and-leased-property-is-the-tenant-landlord-or-body-corporate-responsible-for-repairing-weather-related-damage/
- How does a body corporate identify overdue levies without infringing on the owner’s POPIA rights? https://www.paddocks.co.za/paddocks-press-newsletter/privacy-and-trustee-disclosure/
- The following case deals with the installation of a body corporate versus a member who had installed a solar system: https://lawlibrary.org.za/akn/za-kzn/judgment/zakzdhc/2025/72/eng@2025-02-13?
- Quite funny: the Mafube municipality (think Frankfort) had outsourced its electricity obligations to a private entity. The municipality now sought to cancel that contract after 13 years, alleging that itself had not complied with procurement prescripts. It bears noting that the private entity had a 100% payment collection rate as well as a record of expanding electricity services including the supply of solar backup. The underlying issue stems from Eskom objections, citing load shedding needs, despite the mitigation introduced by the private entity. The writer, in this instance, commented back in 2023 that you cannot make this s**t up – s ’true!
Lighten up
The double negative paradox…
A linguistics professor says during a lecture that, “In English, a double negative forms a positive. But in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, in no language in the world can a double positive form a negative.”
But then a voice from the back of the room piped up,
“Yeah, right.”
Contributed by:
Daan Steenkamp
daan@delberg.co.za
012 3615001
www.delberg.co.za
