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Snippet 12-2025

by | Aug 17, 2025 | Business, Economy, Legal, Property, Snippet, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Practice 

News 

  • Lawyers: 
  • The will of the late Judge Mokgoro was the subject of unpleasantness in the Kimberley High Court: one of the two wills available, had electronic signatures where wet-ink signatures of witnesses were supposed to be. One can only surmise as to what happened because all practitioners know that walls must be signed in the original. 
  • Our LPC has defended the government BEE legal sector code policy which aims at transforming the legal sector, saying that top law firms wish to preserve a status quo that favours the privileged minority. Eish! 
  • Yes, I am probably prejudiced, but I was most pleased to read a News.24 article stating that the MK Party attacks on the judiciary, are intended to distract from their lawyers’ incompetence: I legally grew up knowing that practitioners are independent and should not present cases having no merit. 
  • In the case that follows, the LPC was berated for attempting to suspend a colleague from the roll of attorneys and conveyancers. The court said that the LPC conducted itself not as custos morum, but as a litigant having a direct personal interest in the matter: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2025/774.html 
  • A debtor conducted a smear campaign against a practitioner; the practitioner approached the High Court on an urgent basis to remove the offending material. A person who posts defamatory material, on a social media platform, and exceeds the permissible exercise of freedom of expression, is at risk: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZASCA/2025/108.html 
  • The RAF: 
  • An interim RAF chair has been appointed – Mr Kenneth Brown, a former Treasury official. 
  • This, of course, means that the controversial Mr Letsoalo is no longer employed by the Fund. Noting that the previous board was dissolved, owing to its failure to act in the best interests of the RAF and to fulfil its fiduciary duties, speaks little good about that institution or the relevant minister! 
  • An interesting development is an IOL report that the High Court, Johannesburg, has ruled that civilians are allowed to record videos of police officers arresting them. 
  • Our Minister of Health has asked the relevant court that the challenges to the Constitutional validity of the NHI be suspended until the legal attacks on the president’s decision to sign the legislation have been resolved. And Oliver asked for more… 

Hard news 

Conveyancing 

  • The latest handbook on property may be obtained from Lexis and is named The Principles of The Law of Property in South Africa. 

Property 

Trends 

  • The best news we have received in some time, aside from inflation and, concomitantly, interest rates declining, is that our business mood has hit a four-month high (which is hardly shooting the lights out but, still): the Chamber of Commerce and industry sentiment index rose to 116.7 which is 7.7 points higher than a year ago. 
  • A major problem with South African property prices were highlighted by Lightstone data: more than 80% of our households earn under R26k per month, which simply means that houses are unaffordable for most of us, and the trend is worsening. 
  • At the same time, our Atlantic Seaboard has seen record-breaking residential property sales. 
  • But all is not lost! The following is an extract of a graph drawn originally from stats SA which shows the building plans passed for this year; again, not shooting the lights out but, there appears to be an upswing of sorts: 

The problem is that that the private sector is responsible for all of the capital projects embarked upon in the first half of this year which means that our government is not contributing to capital growth. 

News 

  • The DA has jumped on the property-race bandwagon and provided footage of it inspecting the Cape Town and Pietermaritzburg deeds registries, asking about the now infamous form LLL, which must be lodged with everything that moves, ostensibly to provide our government with the racial classification of everyone owning property. This action by the DA is all showmanship; a Registrar of Deeds has no authority to decide on matters passed down from the Chief Registrar of Deeds or her political masters. Registrars cannot but say that they are following orders. 
  • Port Alfred is set to be de-colonialised, name wise: think iCoyi; the river will presumably become iQoyi. 

Conveyancing/Property 

Comment 

There are three issues which deserve comment: 

  • Our Minister of Finance has proposed that political parties be fully funded by public money. His position is arguable, but I cannot escape the suspicion that the impecuniosity of his party has brought this to the fore. 
  • TotalEnergies was drilling south-west offshore for gas. This process has been halted by the Western Cape High Court owing to the environmental impact assessment having been flawed. The non-compliance by the relevant state body potentially costs this country a lot of money. The fact is that we could do with our own gas/alternative source of energy. 
  • The lowering of our inflation target, proposed by the Reserve Bank, has bought widespread comment, ranging from praise to condemnation. On the one hand is the desirability of lower interest rates, and, very importantly, that expectation fixed in the minds of consumers; on the other the potential of hindering whatever growth may be had. You may find following (disappointingly neutral) note interesting: https://codera.co.za/rmb-ms-paper-on-implications-of-a-lower-inflation-target-in-sa/ 

Lighten up 

When last did you hear a blonde joke? I suspect that these are no longer socially acceptable – and in my case I am married to one! 

What do you call a smart blonde? 

A golden retriever.