The Judge President of the High Court in Limpopo, judge Ephraim Makgoba, told legal practitioners to stop bringing urgent applications over weekends and to avoid bringing cases to court where only one party is represented.
In a directive issued on Tuesday, Makgoba said the court rules regarding urgent applications continued to be abused by legal practitioners. "The practice or tendency of legal practitioners to bring applications unnecessarily at awkward hours, at night and over the weekends should be stopped, unless the nature and exigency of the application justifies the bringing of the application during such times," he said.
The matter was apparently discussed with other judges in the province and a directive was issued that legal practitioners should adhere to the arrangement that such applications should be brought before court on a Tuesday.
"Some legal practitioners wait for a particular judge to be on duty over the weekend and only then bring urgent applications and obtain orders they do not even deserve," said Makgoba.
He also criticised legal practitioners who apply for interim order on an ex parte basis (where only one party is represented), where papers should have been served on the respondents. "All applications must be served on the respondents unless service of process will defeat the purpose of the application," he said.