Our Courts and Lawyers during Lockdown

Hello, everyone!

I am not one to jump on bandwagons, and I am also not going to start, but I have felt that many of my clients have not heard from me since 27 March 2020 and I have also not heard from them either, so-

I think it is time to say something...

First- if the numbers that I got from the Covid-19 Info Centres of Facebook and Twitter are anything to go by we have almost halved the rate by which the Coronavirus has spread here in South Africa within a week.

Good job, everyone!

I hope we stay strong and safe together and that we will reduce the spreading to zero within the coming week. 

Until that happens- I have noticed that some of my clients still remain concerned about the progress in their matters.

That- in itself- is a good sign. It means we are still expecting life to return to normal much sooner than the economy will collapse...

Other lawyers will tell you that we are also confined to our homes now. Most of our court cases that were to be heard on dates that now fall within the Lockdown period have been either postponed to expected dates after the Lockdown or put on indefinite hold for us to enrol again once we return.

Those are your normal civil matters.

Soon after the Lockdown had begun, however, we have been informed that our courts now operate on skeleton staff being available to help with only urgent, essential matters. The interpretation of what exactly is deemed "urgent and essential" was not left up to us.

In our High Courts people that wish to challenge the constitutionality (in laymen's terms that would translate to fairness and validity) of the measures currently imposed by the State to combat the spreading of the Virus shall still be heard and the Court remains available for that.

Then- any other matter that is urgent and that can result in serious hardship for an applicant if it is not heard immediately-can still be brought before the High Court. High Courts have inherent jurisdiction, which means that you cannot really limit this category of cases to only a certain kind, but- don't be surprised if you have reckoned that the circumstances of your case merit urgent hearing and find that the Court does not share your view. The test I always apply is: "What will happen if we wait until after the Lockdown?"

As for Lower Courts I do not see any work for the Civil District Courts or Civil Regional Courts, but our Family Courts remain open and available to deal with the matters listed as follow in the Regulations:

That does not mean, however, that attorneys and advocates are now allowed to travel back and forth between home, office and court to attend to these matters.

The form that you see on top of this post is actually to be used by a lawyer to apply for a permit to leave his/ her home to attend to any of the matters mentioned above.

How long it takes for such a permit to be issued I do not yet know, because I have not yet had to apply for one. If I do find out I will let you know.

As for consultations- technology is of a much greater help these days. I can imagine the astronomic phone bill of anyone that opted for telephonic consultations if this Lockdown was imposed on us during the 1980's.

Now- with all the internet based voice and video chat applications- and even email- at our disposal, we can still maintain contact with our clients, give advice and get the information that we need. 

Before I stop typing I just want to thank my clients for their continued support. I realise that we are in for a tough time ahead and seeing that you are still here means a great deal to me.

Stay safe and, for the time being, let's stay out of court as far as we can...