By Nomfundo Jele
The Constitutional Court (CC) has dismissed the application for leave to appeal in the matter of Proxi Smart Services (Pty) Ltd v Law Society of South Africa and Others (CC) (unreported case no CCT114/19, 5-8-2019) (Mogoeng CJ, Cameron J, Froneman J, Jafta J, Khampepe J, Madlanga J, Mhlantla J, and Theron J).
According to a press release issued by the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA), the matter was dismissed in early August. In the court order, the CC concluded that ‘given the procedural insufficiencies in the applicant’s case, it is not in the interests of justice for this court to adjudicate this issue on these papers’.
Proxi Smart Services (Pty) Limited applied to the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria for declaratory relief regarding the lawfulness of its business model for performing the administrative and related services pertaining to property transfers that it contended was not by law reserved to conveyancers or legal practitioners. The LSSA contended that the applicant’s attempt at creating a distinction between ‘reserved work’ and ‘non-reserved work’ had no basis in law, and that the full conveyancing process is regarded as professional work performed by conveyancers.
‘We are ecstatic with the judgment. The order confirms the High Court’s order that the applicant has not made out a case for the relief it sought. We are hopeful that this order brings the matter to a conclusion’, said LSSA President, Mvuzo Notyesi in the press release. He added: ‘We would like to thank our legal team for their brilliant work, our attorneys at Maponya Attorneys, as well as advocate Allen Liversage SC and advocate Lerato Maite.’
The matter was first dismissed by the High Court in February 2018, whereafter the applicant was denied leave to appeal in December 2018. The applicant then filed an application with the Supreme Court of Appeal, which was dismissed this May.
View all the Proxi Smart matter documents on the LSSA website.
Nomfundo Jele, Communications Officer, Law Society of South Africa, nomfundom@lssa.org.za
