Government Gazette Update

Bills and Draft Bills

Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill

[B20D-2006]

Government, General and Board Notices

Housing Consumer Protection Measures Act 95 of 1998

National Home Builders Registration Council : Home Builder Grading System
GenN 396/GG 29747/05-04-2007

Local Government : Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003

Exemption from certain specific provisions of the Act to facilitate electricity industry restructuring
GN 305/GG 29781/05-04-2007 *

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Gazette - now available online via http://www.lawsoc.co.za/kznprovince/index.htm as the result of a collaborative project between the Premier's Office and the KZNLS

Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs

Standard draft by-laws for rates
MN 4/PG 6550/05-04-2007

KwaSani Local Municipality

Public by-laws
MN 9/PG 6551/12-04-2007

Mthonjaneni Local Municipality

Rates by-laws
MN 8/PG 6550/05-04-2007

Recent Journal Articles of Interest

Bureau for Mercantile Law Bulletin

Commentary
Regeneration of inner cities : eviction of unlawful occupiers
Landlord's lien for improvements
CILSA - 2007, v.24(5), p.105

Property
Veld fires : duty of property owner - Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry and Others v Durr 2006(6) SA 587(SCA)
CILSA - 2007, v.24(5), p.112

 

Lessee's lien for improvements - Business Aviation Corporation (Pty) Ltd and Another v Rand Airport Holdings (Pty) Ltd 2006(6) SA 605(SCA)
CILSA - 2007, v.24(5), p.112

 

Expropriation - City of Cape Town v Helderberg Park Development (Pty) Ltd 2007(1) SA 1(SCA)
CILSA - 2007, v.24(5), p.112

 

Acquisition of ownership by prescription - Ploughmann NO v Pauw and Another 2006(6) SA 334(C)
CILSA - 2007, v.24(5), p.112

 

National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act 103 of 1977 - City of Johannesburg v Rand Properties (Pty) Ltd and Others 2007(1) SA 78(W)
CILSA - 2007, v.24(5), p.112

Recent Judgments Available on the Internet

Cape Provincial Division - http://law.sun.ac.za/cgi-bin/list.php

28 March 2007
1791/2005
S J Mostert v J M van der Westhuizen and Another
The applicant owns the property in question and the defendants currently occupy this property and despite reprimands from the applicant does not want to leave the property. The defendants claim that they have a valid rent agreement

23 March 2007
1214/2007
D D Moodley v Knysna Municipality and Another
The Applicant, a senior employee of the Knysna Municipality, namely the Director of Corporate Services, and who is also an admitted Attorney has launched an application by way of urgency for the following relief : "That the disciplinary enquiry against the Applicant which has been re-enrolled by the First Respondent for 26 February to 1 March 2007 be struck from the roll alternatively be stayed, alternatively be postponed sine die pending the outcome of the first Review Application already instituted on 27 November 2006 under Case No.12993/2006 and also pending the outcome of the second Review Application to be instituted by 23 February 2007"

19 March 2007
1990/2007
M C Laubscher v P B Hoepfner and Another
The applicant managed a fish shop in Parow on the property in question until the respondent evicted the applicant from this property. The matter is now before the court according to Court Rule 6(12)(c)

Group drops Green Point stadium court action - 17 April
The Cape Town Environmental Protection Association (Cepa) is to drop its court case seeking to stop the demolition of the Green Point Stadium, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Tuesday. The Cape Town unicity's legal team said Cepa's lawyers had conceded that the demolition could not be stopped. The two parties met in chambers at the Cape High Court, where Cepa was seeking an order to stop the demolition. - Mail & Guardian website
Keyphrase :
2010 FIFA World Cup

Demolition of Green Point Stadium continues - 13 April
A civic group on Friday failed to bring an immediate halt to the demolition of the old Green Point Stadium, alongside the site of Cape Town's proposed 2010 Soccer World Cup stadium. The Cape Town Environmental Protection Association earlier in the day filed papers asking the Cape High Court for an urgent interdict against the demolition, a substantial portion of which has already been completed. - Mail & Guardian website

Magistrates Courts

Makhado

Limpopo eviction 'saddens' ANC Women's League - 16 April
The African National Congress Women's League on Monday objected to court rulings evicting a family from "ancestral land" in Limpopo and refusing permission for a matriarch to be buried there. "The Tshivhula family has endured humiliation, harassment and loss of human dignity over the past two-and-a-half months since the death of their beloved mother, Mukumela Tshivhula, on January 27. She is yet to be buried," the league said in a statement. On March 28, the Makhado Magistrate's Court issued an order giving the family 10 days to vacate their home located on the farm. This was the only home the family had lived in and the place that the deceased called her matrimonial home in the 1930s. - Mail & Guardian website

Government and Legislation

Legislation

Prevention of Illegal Eviction From and Unlawful Occupation of Land Amendment Bill

Property investors get a slice of pie - 11 April
The Prevention of Illegal Eviction From and Unlawful Occupation of Land Amendment Bill (PIE) is a welcome sign that the government is addressing the imbalances in the act and some of the difficulties in the interpretation and implementation of the Act.  "This is clearly a welcome amendment and a step in the right direction in creating a user-friendly policy with regards to property ownership especially for property investors.   There is now protection and remedy granted to both home owners and tenants and to some degree, limits the rights of people who occupy buildings or land illegally", says Herschel Jawitz, CE of Jawitz Properties. - Moneyweb website

Useful Links and Items of Interest

Slip-sliding Kaaimans Pass house for sale - 18 April
The Dolphins Point house below the section of Kaaimans Pass – which is slowly sliding into the Kaaimans River – has been put on the market for R8,7-million. The property shot to fame in the aftermath of the August 2006 floods when the main house on the site began to collapse and slide down the hillside towards the Kaaimans estuary. The house borders a section of the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe railway line which was also damaged in the August floods. In order for the line to be repaired, the hillside – along with the house – needs to be collapsed. Earlier this year owner Wim de Beer was left with a difficult decision to make when his insurance company refused to pay any compensation if he or another party assists in the collapse of the mountain. De Beer conceded that the buildings on the site were unstable and would probably have to be demolished, but believes that the views over the Kaaimans ravine and railway bridge, backed by the breaking waves of the Southern Ocean, would make the location a very desirable acquisition. The land on offer measures about 5 700mē. - The Herald Online website

see also http://www.lawlibrary.co.za/notice/updates/2006/issue_34.htm

SA property market settles, survey finds - 17 April
The difference in asking and selling prices in the property market is back to normal levels, said the MD of Homenet, David Rogers, on Tuesday. "Clear evidence that the property market has settled and is set for an upturn is the fact that the difference between asking and selling prices has dropped back to normal levels of between 5% and 10% in most areas," Rogers said. - Mail & Guardian website

Name-change costs local responsibility - 13 April
Local authorities wanting to embark on a name- change process need to be reminded it's not a cheap exercise, and is one for which the applicant authority must bear the full cost. This was the message yesterday from Arts and Culture Minister Dr Pallo Jordan when he fielded questions from a lively audience attending a government imbizo in Queenstown's indoor sports centre. - The Herald Online website
Includes explanation of procedure

Buthelezi cautions ANC over highway name change - 13 April
Opposition politician Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi has added a note of caution to the proposed name change of Durban highway in KwaZulu Natal - currently named "Mangosuthu Highway" in his honour. - Mail & Guardian website

Louis Trichardt name-change battle starts anew - 13 April
The Louis Trichardt municipal council is to start a process to get the Limpopo town renamed yet again to Makhado, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Friday. This month, the Supreme Court of Appeal reversed the town's name change to Makhado on the grounds that there had not been adequate consultation with its people. A special town council meeting on Thursday resolved to establish a task team to ensure that proper consultations are carried out in all of the municipality's 37 wards. - Mail & Guardian website

SABC withdraws Tshwane radio adverts - 12 April
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has officially withdrawn all radio advertisements of the Tshwane Metropolitan Council that refer to Tshwane as the capital city. According to lobby group Afriforum, led by Kallie Kriel, this decision followed a complaint having been lodged by AfriForum - the civil rights initiative established by trade union Solidarity - against such advertisements with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). - Mail & Guardian website

Effort to ease US mortgage woes - 17 April
US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are developing new types of loans to help borrowers with high-risk mortgages avoid losing their homes. Sub-prime mortgages are typically variable rate, starting with a low interest rate which can then rise sharply. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said they were aiming to introduce new 30-year, and possibly 40-year, fixed rate deals, with the chance for existing sub-prime customers to switch. - BBC News website