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Rules Board for Courts of Law
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REQUEST FOR COMMENT: PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO UNIFORM RULE 53 (REVIEWS)
The Rules Board for Courts of Law (Rules Board) received a representation proposing amendment to Uniform Rule 53 to provide for proceedings under the rule to be conducted also by way of summons.
In dealing with the representation, the Rules Board considered, among others, that:
(a) The Constitutional Court in Mamadi and Another v Premier, Limpopo Province and Others [2022] ZACC 26 did not specifically state that Uniform Rule 53 should be amended to provide for review by action proceedings. The Court merely stated that a party is not precluded from bringing review proceedings other than by motion proceedings.
(b) Reviews under Uniform Rule 53 should be by way of notice of motion.
(c) Except for review proceedings in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977, reviews
shall be by way of notice of motion.
Comments must be submitted on or before 31 March 2026.
Comments/submissions can be sent by hand delivery or e-mail as follows:
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Centre Walk East Tower, 266 Pretorius Street, PRETORIA.
E-MAIL: MuCele@justice.gov.za
Dated: 05 Feb 2026
The Rules Board for Courts of Law (“Rules Board”) is proposing an amendment to Rule 18 of the Supreme Court of Appeal to include new tariff items for scanning and uploading documents to an online court portal.
The proposed tariff for scanning aligns, in material respects, with item 1 of Section D of the tariff under Uniform Rule 70. The fee is calculated per page and corresponds to the existing tariff for copying.
The proposed tariff for uploading aligns, in material respects, with item 7 of Section D of the tariff under Uniform Rule 70. The fee is also calculated per page.
The Rules Board is furthermore proposing the repeal of Rule 19 as no court fees are payable by litigants inter alia for the lodgment of applications etc. with the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Comments must be submitted on or before 27 February 2026.
Comments/submissions can be sent by hand delivery or e-mail as follows:
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Centre Walk East Tower, 266 Pretorius Street, PRETORIA.
E-MAIL: Moses Setshedi, MoSetshedi@justice.gov.za
Dated: 12 Dec 2025
REQUEST FOR COMMENT: PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF UNIFORM RULE 67A(5)
The Rules Board for Courts of Law is proposing an amendment to subrule (5) of Uniform Rule 67A as follows:
(a) The phrase “as between party and party” is proposed to be deleted as the phrase is already contained in subrule (1). It was considered that the inclusion of the phrase in the subrule may appear to “exclude” costs granted on the attorney-client scale and costs awarded de bonis propriis; and
(b) The phrase “disbursements” which is included in subrule (1) is proposed to be incorporated in the subrule.
Comments must be submitted on or before 27 February 2026.
Comments/submissions can be sent by hand delivery or e-mail as follows:
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Centre Walk East Tower, 266 Pretorius Street, PRETORIA.
E-MAIL: Moses Setshedi, MoSetshedi@justice.gov.za
Dated: 12 Dec 2025
The Rules Board for Courts of Law (“Rules Board”) is considering amending Uniform Rule 46(7)(c) and Magistrates Courts’ Rule 43(7)(c) to include, in addition to publishing the notice of sale in execution of immovable property in a newspaper, the option of publishing the notice of sale in an electronic news publication.
The Rules Board considered that the current rules still require that sheriffs publish notices of sale in newspapers only but that many newspapers have transitioned to digital platforms and some no longer produce physical editions. The Rules Board identified that by including in addition to publication in printed format, online publication, that this enhanced access to justice as the content on online platforms is accessible to many readers and the rules required to be developed to cater for the evolving technological developments.
Comments must be submitted on or before 27 February 2026.
Comments/submissions can be sent by hand delivery or e-mail as follows:
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Centre Walk East Tower, 266 Pretorius Street, PRETORIA.
E-MAIL: Ms. Zintle Mbombo (ZMbombo@justice.gov.za)
Dated: 12 Dec 2025
The Rules Board is proposing to amend item 6(b) of the tariff (attending court for the hearing) for the category of ‘one to ten creditors’ to align the tariff fee with the fee for the categories of ‘eleven to twenty creditors’, and ‘twenty-one or more creditors’.
Comments must be submitted on or before 27 February 2026.
Comments/submissions can be sent by hand delivery or e-mail as follows:
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Centre Walk East Tower, 266 Pretorius Street, PRETORIA.
E-MAIL: Tiro Ramantsi, TRamantsi@justice.gov.za
Dated: 12 Dec 2025
In determining an appropriate tariff fee, the Rules Board considered:
(a) the activities required to register a matter on an online court portal such as “Court-Online”; and
(b) that the registration process may be performed by either an attorney or a candidate attorney.
An all-inclusive tariff fee of R137,00 is proposed for the registration of a matter on the online court portal for both the High Court and Magistrates’ Courts. The same fee is proposed for both courts, as the nature and extent of the work required is essentially the same. The proposed fee is benchmarked against the per-quarter-of an hourly rate for a candidate attorney in Section A of the tariff under Uniform Rule 70.
Comments must be submitted on or before 27 February 2026.
Comments/submissions can be sent by hand delivery or e-mail as follows:
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Centre Walk East Tower, 266 Pretorius Street, PRETORIA.
E-MAIL: Tiro Ramantsi, TRamantsi@justice.gov.za
Dated: 12 Dec 2025
The Rules Board for Courts of Law (“Rules Board”) is proposing amendments to Rule 4 and Rule 9 as aforesaid to regulate service of process at an access-controlled address. In addition, Rule 4 is to be amended to provide that service of process and orders may not be effected on a public holiday, in addition to the existing prohibition of service of process on Sundays, thus aligning Rule 4 with the corresponding provision in Rule 9 of the Magistrates Courts’ Rules.
The proposed amendments to Rule 4 of the Uniform Rules of Court and Rule 9 of the Magistrates Courts’ Rules regarding service at an access-controlled address are based on three tiers of access control.
Comments must be submitted on or before 27 February 2026.
Comments/submissions can be sent by hand delivery or e-mail as follows:
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Centre Walk East Tower, 266 Pretorius Street, PRETORIA.
E-MAIL: Ms. Azwindinni Sebola (AmSebola@justice.gov.za)
Dated: 12 Dec 2025
REQUEST FOR COMMENT: PROPOSED INTRODUCTION OF A RULE REGULATING HEADS OF ARGUMENT IN THE HIGH COURT
The Rules Board for Courts of Law (“Rules Board”) is proposing to introduce in the Uniform Rules, a rule intended to regulate preparation and filing of Heads of argument in the High Court. The proposed new rule will be general in nature and speak to the practice across all Divisions of the High Court.
It is proposed that the new rule be inserted after Uniform Rule 37B (Administrative archiving) and before Uniform Rule 38 (Procuring Evidence for Trial), as Uniform Rule 37C. Alternatively, the new rule may be inserted after Uniform Rule 38 (Procuring Evidence for Trial) but before Uniform Rule 39 (Trial). You are kindly requested to indicate your preferred location of the proposed new rule in the Uniform Rules.
Comments must be submitted on or before 31 March 2026.
Comments/submissions can be sent by hand delivery or e-mail as follows:
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Centre Walk East Tower, 266 Pretorius Street, PRETORIA.
E-MAIL: Mr. Musa Cele (MuCele@justice.gov.za).
Dated: 11 Dec 2025
Comment is invited on the proposed amendments to rule 51A of the Magistrates’ Courts Rules (MCRs).
Subsequent to a representation that the MCRs do not refer to the Land Court appeals in land related legislation, nor the automatic reviews in terms of Extension of Security of Tenure Act, 1997 (Act No. 62 of 1997) [ESTA], and that some appeals were still being submitted to the High Court instead of the Land Court, the Rules Board for Courts of Law (Rules Board) had to consider the prospects of inserting rule 51A in the MCRs. The proposed rule is mainly aimed at regulating the procedure for the automatic review of orders for eviction in terms of section 19(3) read with section 20(4) of ESTA and section 14(1) of the Land Court Act, 2023 (Act No. 6 of 2023) [LCA].
The proposed rule 51A is contained in Annexure A. For ease of reference, extracts of sections 19(3) and 20(4) of the ESTA plus section 14(1) of the LCA are included as Annexures B and C.
As part of its consultative process, the Rules Board hereby invites your comments on the proposed rule 51A, for submission to its Secretariat by not later than 23 January 2026.
Submissions / comments can be sent via hand delivery or email as follows:
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Centre Walk East Tower, 266 Pretorius Street, PRETORIA.
EMAIL: Ms. Zintle Mbombo (ZMbombo@justice.gov.za).
Dated: 08 Dec 2025
REQUEST FOR COMMENT: PROPOSED DRAFT LAND COURT RULES
Comment is invited on the proposed draft Land Court Rules created to regulate all matters relating to the proceedings of and before the Land Court.
Following the promulgation of the Land Court Act,2023 (Act 6 of 2023), section 3 (1) provides for the establishment of the new Land Court as a court of law to deal with matters arising from the application of the Restitution of Land Rights Act or any other legislation expressly providing therefor. Section 14 ( 1) provides that the Rules Board must make rules to regulate the conduct of proceedings of the court and same has been attended to in line with section 6 of the Rules Board for Courts of Law Act, 1985(Act No. 107 of 1985).
Arising from work of the Rules Board a new set of Land Court Rules has been formulated: Proposed draft Land Court Rules
Comments must be submitted on or before 27 February 2026.
Comments/submissions can be sent by hand delivery or e-mail as follows:
PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 2nd Floor, Centre Walk East Tower, 266 Pretorius Street, PRETORIA.
E-MAIL:
- Mr. Success Mnisi (Sumnisi@justlce.gov.za),
- Ms. Azwindini Sebola (AmSebola@justlce.gov.za), or
- Mr. Musa Cele (MuCele@justice.gov.za).
Dated: 04 Dec 2025