A new directive by Judge President Mlambo is to be implemented in the Gauteng Division of the High Court (Pretoria and Johannesburg) from the 14th of April 2025 and it will have an impact on all clients who already have Court dates for trial from July 2025 going forward.
Before this directive, trial dates were applied for and granted after the two parties met for a pre-trial conference to try to resolve some of the issues in dispute between themselves.
After a considerable time, the two parties would be allocated a trial date for the Court to decide on issues that are still in dispute that the parties cannot resolve themselves. From 14 April 2025, parties must go a step further and attend compulsory mediation, which they must pay for, to get a trial date.
Explained simply, mediation is a process where two parties meet with a third independent party, who acts as the ‘referee’ and assists the two parties to reach an agreement that works for both parties. This process is now compulsory in the Gauteng Division High Courts and parties cannot apply for a trial date without a certificate from this chosen ‘referee’.
The problem with this new directive is that it applies not only to matters where we are still seeking a trial date but to matters that have already been allocated a trial date as well. All RAF trial dates that had already been allocated for 2026 going forward are cancelled as a result of the directive.
This means that clients who had previously applied for and were allocated trial dates no longer have those dates. All RAF hearings allocated for July to December 2025 are conditionally safe as they will still have to go for mediation to obtain a certificate to confirm the trial date.
We are of the view that this process is frustrating for both the client and the legal practitioner and as a result, we will be submitting our objections to this new directive. Instead of moving the matter forward and closer to getting finalized, it takes the matter back to square one, where we have no trial date.
It is also unfair of the Court to expect clients to pay for the fees of this ‘referee’ together with the Defendant, before even attending the mediation, especially in matters against RAF, where most clients do not have money to fight their case and have entered into a Contingency Fee Agreement with us.
We urge you to submit your objection as well and are willing to assist with the submission.
Objections must be filed on or before 3 April 2025 to clmabunda@judiciary.org.za