Minister of Transport applies to have the Road Accident Fund Act constitutional challenge postponed
 The Minister of Transport cited two reasons why the court should grant a postponement of the main application which is set down for hearing for the period of 1 to 3 March 2010. The first reason cited by adv M. R. Madlanga SC, acting on behalf of the Minister of Transport, was the late filing of certain affidavits of the Applicants in the main application, and the second reason was that the Minister of Transport believed that the Applicants raised new matters in their replying affidavits in the main application. In response adv JJ Gauntlett SC, acting on behalf of the 1st to the 4th Applicants in the main application, opposed the application for postponement on the basis of five sequential issues, which can be summarised as follows: Firstly, that the grounds on which the application for postponement is brought, does not take into consideration the public interest; Secondly, that the content in the Applicants’ replying affidavits in the main application aimed to respond adequately to the Respondent’s answering affidavits and as such did not amount to the Applicants raising new matters; Thirdly, that the stage in the proceedings when the Application for Postponement was launched is prejudicing the Applicants’; Fourthly, that the content of the Applicants’ replying affidavits will not affect the First Respondent’s case in any material way; Lastly, he argued the points which the court must consider when exercising its judicial discretion in hearing an application for postponement. The application for postponement was heard before Fabricius AJ, who dismissed the application for postponement with costs. In coming to his decision, Fabricius AJ indicated that he had to concern himself with the substance of the main application, which involves the public interest, road accident victims and the medical treatment which these victims receive at present. Fabricius AJ was furthermore of the view that allegations contained in the Applicants’ replying affidavit, were not of such a nature that it will cause the Minister of Transport such prejudice which cannot be remedied. The judge also noted that the public interest outweighed any technical issues such as the late filing of affidavits by any of the parties. It is in the public interest that a matter of this nature proceeds on the allocated hearing date to ensure that the matter is dealt with expeditiously. The main application challenging the Road Accident Fund Amendment Act will therefore proceed to be heard in the North Gauteng High court for the period 1 to 3 March 2010. Fabricius AJ has also been allocated to hear the main application between the parties. Nicolette Koch Partner nicolette-k@adamsadams.co.za Carmel Buckham Candidate Attorney carmel-b@adamsadams.co.za |
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| 9/06/2012 | ||
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