Houses of Parliament, Cape Town — where the magistrates’ remuneration notice still has to be approved.
Spoliation at the High Court this winter
Swart v Gariep Systems [2026] ZANCHC 51 (5 June 2026) restored possession where access to a farm had been conditioned on an exit agreement. The court refused to try the management contract inside the spoliation. That is the discipline a district court can copy without waiting for a reported case from its own division.
The Madlanga calendar
The President’s 6 August note on the second interim report, and the extension of the final report to 16 November 2026, are public facts. Magistrates will keep seeing the downstream work: bail, search-and-seizure, protection orders, inquests, and the family that arrives because a police docket has become a national story. None of that is a licence to prejudge the Commission.
Municipal-election season
Local government elections follow the 2021 cycle. The months ahead will fill district rolls with Electoral Act work, IEC objections, and the ordinary rise in public-order matters that travels with a campaign. Magistrates are not electoral officers. They are the court that keeps the peace while other people count. Recusal, again, is the tool: a magistrate who has been a candidate, a party official or a loud voice on a ward WhatsApp should not be the magistrate who hears the objection.
Five small things you can do this quarter
1. Send JASA a calm note about vacancies, broken machines, security scares and judgments sitting too long.
2. Leave a colleague’s reserved case, a live Commission complaint and a live Madlanga witness off the group chat.
3. Keep Van Rooyen (2002), Ngqukumba (2014) and section 165 in the top drawer.
4. If a spoliation lands ex parte at 08:25, ask what was not disclosed before you ask who owns the keys.
5. Write the article, the feeling or the published piece this newsletter is asking for. Addresses on the last pages.
“This alliance is not merely an organisation. It is a covenant — a pact binding judicial officers with everyone who needs a court that still has a human face.”
— Mr Karikan, February 2026