Miscellaneous | The Mkontwana Case

The issue was whether a provision that property could not be transferred from one owner to another if municipal rates and taxes had not been cleared was an arbitrary deprivation of property. The provision had ramifications for a number of members of the Court who didn’t live in Johannesburg and were considering buying property within easy distance of the Court. All the Judges agreed that the provision was not arbitrary. The main judgment by Justice Yacoob applied a relatively narrow test to arrive at this result. Justice O’Regan agreed on a slightly wider basis. In a single paragraph judgment Justice Sachs said he agreed with the main judgment and welcomed the additional factors referred to by Justice O’Regan.