From our Litigation Department

  Before the troubles of Covid-19 I enjoyed meeting the new candidate attorneys that have just joined the firms here in my area and seeing how they go about their business at Court and hearing what they had to say at our Attorneys' Circle meetings. Up to now, however, I have had little time and chance to do so. Since I have joined my current firm, however, I was once again reminded of what a new and exciting time serving articles is in any candidate's life. This post is for you who have just begun looking for employment as a Candidate Attorney or who has already entered into a contract with a firm. Sit down a bit and listen. This old-timer has some pointers for the road ahead... You see- those 4 (or in some cases more...) years that you have spent at University have not prepared you for the work that you are about to do. You will soon understand why you are required to undergo that Practical Legal Training and trust me- you will in due course appreciate the Practice Management...

I cannot practice law from a chair.  Well... actually nobody can... I guess I could seem to do it if I care little enough about the whereabouts of my court papers, the situation at the institutions to whom I entrust my clients' estates, applications and court documents. As I am- as I have always been- I prefer to hear first-hand from court officials and staff of institutions with whom I work about the situation in their areas of responsibility. So- if I tell you about what is going on at Court, what problems have arisen or where your documents are in the system of whatever institution it is first-hand information that I share. This year has begun with me going to the High Court and Magistrates' Court. I am quite excited as we have court appearances scheduled for this very month of January 2022. I have made extra sure that everything is in place to avoid postponements as I know our clients have been waiting long enough for these dates to come. I look forward to working with our ...

  Not too long ago- I am talking about around 2015 our High Court began serving our community here in Mbombela. This Court did not yet have its own building and had its base of operations on the upper floors of our Magistrates' Court. The attorneys of our city seemed very eager to make use of this new Court and soon we have found that this new Court received a tremendous in-flow of cases. Among those cases were divorces. Soon afterward, however, this Court was made far less accessible with practice directives that seem designed to keep matters away from the court roll indefinitely. With other matters we have an array of case management procedures that have to be followed before a matter is enrolled for hearing. In the case of divorces where minor children are involved the High Court has brought in a requirement that seems to keep these matters off the roll indefinitely... You see- When someone gets divorced out of the Regional Court on an unopposed basis the particulars of claim to...

  In my previous blog post I have explained the standstill to which the Maintenance Court and the Master's Office was brought here in our city by the cyber attack that has disabled the IT systems of the entire Department of Justice and Constitutional Development throughout the country. As you may remember, the Department has long since said that the system is recovering. In spite of this- these two offices were still at a standstill. You may also remember that I have pointed out that no way was yet being sought to assist the public in a manner that did not require the computer network... So-  What has happened since then? On Monday the 8th of November 2021 the Maintenance Court had a visitor. It was Mr Vusumzi Ngamlana from the Public Protector who was sent to find out what was going on at our Maintenance Office and how the public experienced the service. The two applications that I still had waiting for case numbers were accepted for processing soon afterward, but the Mainten...

  If you have not yet heard of the Ransomware attack on the IT systems of our Department of Justice you can read the article that I have found via this link:  https://www.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/department-of-justice-says-its-recovering-from-cyber-hack-causing-court-case-delays-20211010 If you have lived in this country as long as I have you will know that few things please our public servants the way their working tools do when they break or fall out of working order. For the road-worker a broken spade or pick-axe means a nice quiet day under the tree. For the official at your local motor vehicle licence office a computer system being offline means catching up on gossip with coworkers, reading the newspaper and the occasional interruption by a member of the public that has to be sent away with the all to well-known "the System is Offline". This time around it was the turn of the staff of our local Master's Office and our Maintenance Court here in Mbombela to s...

  Another public holiday is behind us and attorneys' offices most likely have received at least one call from a divorce client who wants to make last minute arrangements about their child's visit to the other parent or who wants to stop that visit from taking place at all. Divorces tend to bring out the best and worst in parents. The father who has always been to busy with his work to pay attention to his children suddenly becomes an interested parent who is willing to even litigate in the High Court to spend time with his child! The mother who used to wish that she had not thrown away her best years for her husband and children...? Her children have now become her "everything"... Healthy children suddenly develop medical emergencies out of the blue that require medication to be bought every month and the boy who was not interested in any extra-mural activities has suddenly begun taking piano lessons... South Africa's law does not allow much room for abuse in disp...