Practice News
· The race card! The LPC has applied to the Pretoria High Court to have Mkhwebane (our previous PP) removed from the roll of advocates. Amongst the howls of protest from MK, is her statement that the LPC should have first heard her in a disciplinary hearing; definitely a first!
· Couples in unregistered customary marriages, have been repeatedly urged to register their marriages with the Department of Home Affairs, before August 31.
· The long-running battle on medically-assisted death for the terminally ill, set to run in the Pretoria High Court; our Health Minister will oppose the application whilst the Justice and Constitutional Development Minister will abide. The Health Professions Council will oppose.
· Of course the Ramaphosa/Impeachment Committee shenanigans will take pride of place this week. Indications are that the judge has not been particularly sympathetic to the application.
· The Mpumalanga Society of Advocates objected to the JSC recommendation of a candidate judge – the objection included unpaid Bar fees, undisclosed debts et cetera; fun: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZASCA/2026/99.html
Hard news
o Our Indemnity Insurance Fund sought to avoid payment for a cybercrime event – what is interesting is the court’s take on the Fund’s obligation to litigate honourably (see @ 25): https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZASCA/2026/95.html
o The Master’s Office often loses documents – in this case, the applicant sought to have a dispossession, which the court eventually rejected as a will, declared valid: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/2026/777.html
o In passing, the doctrine of election (see @ 31) is discussed in this case: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/2026/772.html
o Section 64 of the Close Operations Act imposes liability on a member of a close corporation, if the conduct of business in the CC by that member was reckless and grossly negligent: https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/2026/758.html
Conveyancing
~ A judgement, that may be of interest to those who deal with retirement property, is dealt with in the following article: https://www.cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com/en/news/publications/2026/South-Africa/Dispute-Resolution/dispute-resolution-14-july-court-rules-that-a-surviving-spouse-of-a-deceased-member-cannot-be-evicted-from-a-retirement-village-scheme
~ A tent can qualify as a home for PIE purposes: https://www.rei.co.za/blog-posts/can-a-tent-legally-become-a-home-court-says-yes
~ An encroachment caveat, noted by the Registrar of Deeds without consent and without judicial oversight, is the subject of this case (worth a look for conveyancers): https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/2026/778.html
~ Is spoliation a defence to payment of arrear rental? https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/2026/764.html
~ West published a new case on how domicile is to be determined in future – ask me for a copy. This is important!
Property
Trends
· The latest FNB inflation adjusted statistics, showing home value trends, is a modest 2.2% yoy growth rate that applied in April.
· Aside from the above it appears that Reits are performing very well – outperforming bonds and equities. The difficulty with this is that if prices are now up – you should have bought last year.
· A problem, which affects our economy and property prices in general, is low infrastructure spending by the State. The following graph comes from Codera and shows infrastructure spending by Province:
News
o Property owners are generally also taxpayers (okay – maybe). Tax and distribution of benefits to the general public, is a way of sharing wealth (of sorts). Much, of late has been said about the RSA having reached a tax inflection point where the dissatisfaction of taxpayers for what they receive, for their tax money, will become intolerable; the following information drives this home: a Daily Investor article on what you get in Ekurhuleni for your R5920 rates bill, compared to what residents of the Midstream Estate get for their R2010 monthly levy, cannot be good news for municipalities: https://dailyinvestor.com/property/142332/r2010-to-midstream-estate-versus-r5920-to-ekurhuleni-municipality-what-you-get-for-your-money/
o A framework to combat the construction mafia, has been signed off by our cabinet – this seeks to institutionalise community engagement in infrastructure delivery. Certainly the way to go as it should cut down the incentive to profit from construction. I confess to being sceptical as undoubtedly opportunities to bypass this will present themselves. This Sunday past Paton wrote on a so-called JV which boils down to extortion: https://www.news24.com/business/opinion/carol-paton-sas-devastating-surrender-to-the-construction-mafia-20260718-0893
o Above I had mentioned Reits doing well – the following voice note explains how these investment vehicles work, and is worth a read for the uninitiated: https://iono.fm/e/1691491
o Old hat but emphasising a increasingly common issue, is a warning from Civil Engineering that municipal infrastructure failures becoming systemic: https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/866393/top-engineers-issue-a-warning-about-south-africa/
Conveyancing and property news
* Puffery is a given in property advertisements. The following article emphasises this: https://www.cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com/en/news/publications/2026/South-Africa/Dispute-Resolution/dispute-resolution-14-july-alert-attractive-property-descriptions-limited-legal-remedies
* A somewhat disturbing article on water use licences, was run by the Daily Friend; under the banner that the state wishes to make race the dominant factor in water-use licensing and allocation; judge for yourself: https://dailyfriend.co.za/2026/07/16/the-risks-in-proposed-water-use-rules/
Lighten up
A man was sent to Hell for his sins. As he was being taken to his place of eternal torment, he passed a room where a lawyer was having an intimate conversation with a beautiful woman. “What a rip-off,” the man muttered. “I have to roast for all eternity, and that lawyer spends it with that gorgeous woman.”
Jabbing the man with his pitchfork, the escorting demon snarled, “Who are you to question that woman’s punishment?”