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Snippet 13-2025

by | Aug 28, 2025 | Business, Economy, Legal, Property, Snippet, Uncategorized | 0 comments

Practice

News

  • Lawyers
    • An Eastern Cape attorney, who had amended a court judgement to suit, has been scrapped from the roll; yawn.
    • An advocate, a director of the National Lottery Commission, who had misused R21m for his own purposes, has been ordered to repay this. Good; but no word of any prosecution?
    • The LPC has come under fire for a closed-door hearing of accusations against a Cape Town attorney’s sexual harassment case. Remarkable, when a judge, in a similar situation, was not afforded that privilege.
    • Ms Mkhwebane’s campaign to have members of the committee that found that she was unfit to hold office has failed in the SCA; the judge having branded her appeal as ‘unmeritorious’. Par for the course in this saga.
    • Magistrates, demanding a salary increase of 34%, will be taking on the Prez in court; clearly, they deem themselves a cut above other civil servants!
    • Speaking for myself, I have quite often marvelled at the actions of our politicians and Parliament, presumably having been advised by the state legal advisers; others (MPs, no less) clearly, have had similar misgivings: the Speaker, Ms Didiza, however, has come out swinging in their defence, saying that she has unequivocal confidence in their professionalism, competence and integrity! Presumably, she would know.
    • Similarly, the actions of the legal teams of some of our more prominent citizens have often amazed me. Perhaps the article on ethics that follows, might serve those of them, who can read, as guidance: https://www.macrobert.co.za/insights/posts/beyond-client-instructions-the-ethics-that-guides-the-legal-practitioner
    • The LPC was given a snotklap as a result of superficial audit reports having been used by it for the intended suspension of a practitioner: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2025/774.html
  • The Association for the Protection of Road Accident Victims (no one would know what APRAV stands for) has publicly said that Gauteng’s civil justice system is nearing collapse owing to the Mandatory Mediation Directive that has become operative in that jurisdiction. Delays are said to amount to 10 years. This refrain has been taken up by the Personal Injury Plaintiff Lawyers Association (Pipla, another incomprehensible acronym) saying that the RAF lacks the capacity to mediate cases at the scale on its plate, with only 3/1000 mediation cases, served on the Fund in the past four months, having been mediated (but not settled!).
  • When a board takes on its governing authority: Ithala, whilst under administration, took on the Prudential Authority in court and came quite badly second for its arrogance.
  • Yawn: the former RAF CEO Mr Letsoalo, has taken the renewal of his contract to the CCMA. Certainly a man of great expectations!
  • An allegation by Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi that the disbandment of the prosecutorial team, investigating political killings, is now being investigated by another equivalent. Attaboy!
  • Preference shares, having pre-agreed dividend rates and capital redemption profiles, was oft used as dividends on such shares are exempt from income tax in some cases. This construction might not last: https://www.cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com/export/sites/cdh/news/publications/2025/Practice/Corporate-Commercial/Downloads/Corporate-Commercial-Alert-19-August-2025.pdf
  • Much has been said about the new Divorce Bill under construction: the fact is that the amendments, to be made, have been pre-judged upon by the Concourt and is, or should be, general knowledge amongst practitioners.
  • Intergenerational wealth, trusts and tax is the topic of the following article; worth a read for those not well-versed in such matters: https://www.moneyweb.co.za/in-depth/merchant-west/wealth-transfer-101-understanding-taxes-trusts-and-family-dynamics/

Hard news

Conveyancing/Property

Property

Trends

  • Average home prices breached the R1.6m mark for the first time, reports BetterBonds; and, furthermore, July’s bond applications were up 14% qoq and 12% yoy.
  • The Western Cape still leads building and sales activity, whilst Pretoria seems to be improving but uncertain. Prices in Jo’burg is half that for in Cape Town for a similar property. To a certain extent this is understandable, as the Cape Town CBD has its highest business confidence rating since 2020, according to the CCID.
  • The Daily Investor says that the growth in mining, agriculture and tourism in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West has resulted in a steady influx of new residents and, resultantly, better sales.
  • Because of our market conditions, many consumers are looking to renovating rather than moving.

News

Lighten up

  • Filling out a mortgage application is like going on a first date. You promise to be honest, but you still hide your crazy.
  • The two-story house: My clients put in an offer on a two-story house. One story before the offer, another story after the offer.

Instead of a cartoon, try this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnB4FOCgfKs

(warning, adult humour!)