What is going on in Mpumalanga?

Last year had the implementation of our new High Court Practice Directive here in Mpumalanga.

While it is true that this new practice directive was issued to implement the new Rule 37A of the High Court Rules it is clear that this directive was issued in response to something that the Judges did not like.

"What things do our Judges not like?" you may ask. Well- the things in particular to which our practice directive was a drastic response appears to be the following:

- Parties showing up on the date of trial only to say that they are unable to proceed;

- Parties reaching a settlement on the date of trial (I still don't get why an unexpected early end to a matter annoys a Judge so much...)

- Files that are not indexed and paginated

- Applicants and Plaintiffs getting judgments and orders by default (As you will see later herein- if you are the one instituting legal proceedings against somebody else- our High Court does not like you at all. I reckon that it is because they know that the work that they end up having to do originates from you. Ironically enough, however, Respondents and Defendants get given even more time to delay matters and to avoid liability- keeping matters on the roll for longer. I suspect that the only reason the Courts like them so much is because they are an easy way with which to punish Applicants and Plaintiffs...)

So- what has our Court done about these things with their Practice Directive?

Well... If you look at the practice directive itself it seems like it was really meant to ensure that practitioners are ready to proceed on their dates of hearing/ trial and that parties that contest proceedings merely for the sake of delaying a matter's finalisation get cut off from playing for time indefinitely. I mean- Having a case management meeting after having received a Notice of Intention to Defend to find out in advance by what dates our Defendants shall file their pleas and be ready to stand trial actually sounds like a good thing for the Plaintiff, right...?

Yes- that is the beauty of the whole thing on paper.

What nobody has bothered to put in writing was that after having received the Notice of Intention to Defend the date for that case management meeting is a month away. Yes! A month away!

So- In the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court of South Africa our Court has actually sanctioned a measure that automatically delays any defended matter before it with a month or more- as if a Notice of Intention to Defend does not already afford a debtor enough time to avoid you getting judgment against him!

So- If you owe anyone more than R 400 000.00 or cause anyone damages exceeding this amount- be sure to get sued here in Mpumalanga!

Well...

Our High Court was dismayed to find that the attorneys in our province had soon accepted the new status quo and had become adept at filling out the forms required by the Directive. This had led to the Judges having to face large numbers of attorneys in the mornings (not too early, though, as our Judges still make them wait until about 11h00 as with their normal motion court days) and they ended up having splitting headaches by lunchtime.

So- something had to be done. And indeed- something was done-

The forms were amended with immediate effect, regardless of when legal proceedings have been instituted.

So... those pesky attorneys were kept occupied with the filling out of the new forms and (tsk! tsk!) some would now even have to postpone their case management hearings- hopefully leaving the courtroom emptier and enabling the Judge to return to the tranquil bliss of his/ her office much earlier.

Litigants in Gauteng and other provinces will have no idea what I am talking about. No Judge in their jurisdiction has ever felt the need to keep matters on the roll for a while longer in order to look busy. They manage to be busy even when all matters before them get finalised in record time!

So- what lies ahead for us? Will our Judges change their minds when the Court's case load has grown large enough to make them more eager to see them getting finalised than dragged out indefinitely for the sake of looking busy for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development? Somehow I think the probability is that they will rather find a way to make the Court less accessible to limit their workload...

So- If you have to approach the High Court- good luck to you!

If you want to get divorced here in Mpumalanga- try your best to get it done in the Regional Court!