Apex court dismisses Proxi Smart’s leave to appeal application with costs

14 Aug 2019

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) is ecstatic at the dismissal by the Constitutional Court of the application for leave to appeal in the matter of Proxi Smart Services (Pty) Limited vs the Law Society of South Africa and Others.

The matter was dismissed in early August. In the court order, the ConCourt concluded that ‘given the procedural insufficiencies in the applicant’s case, it is not in the interests of justice for it to adjudicate the issue on these papers’.

Proxi Smart Services (Pty) Limited applied to the Gauteng Division of the High Court 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 very happy with the judgement. The ConCourt 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’, says LSSA President, Mvuzo Notyesi. He adds: ‘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 and denied the applicant 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: http://www.lssa.org.za/about-us/matters/proxismart-services-pty-ltd

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE LAW SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA, MVUZO NOTYESI
LSSA Communications:
Nomfundo Jele nomfundom@lssa.org.za Tel: (012) 366 8800 or 072 402 6344