S v Ntuli

• Jurisdiction: South Africa

S v Ntuli
1967 (4) SA 349 (T)

1967 (4) SA p349

Citation	1967 (4) SA 349 (T)
Court	Transvaal Provincial Division
Judge	Ludorf J and Eloff AJ
Heard	August 14, 1967
Judgment	September 11, 1967

Flynote : Sleutelwoorde

Native — Locations — Abolition of a location under sec. 3 (2) of A Act 25 of 1945 — Regulation of compensation a necessary pre-requisite — Maxims — Omnia praesumuntur rite esse acta — Scope of.

Headnote : Kopnota

The effect of section 3 (2) of the Bantu (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act, 25 of 1945, is that only when the Minister has regulated the matter B of compensation is his consent effective and is the location finally abolished. Should the Minister conclude that no compensation should be payable, then, as a necessary step in the process of abolishing the location, Bantu village or Bantu hostel concerned, he should say so. Consent, if given without more, may well be valid, but it does not per se result in the abolition until compensation is regulated. Consequently it cannot be inferred, from the fact that consent was given, that compensation was also regulated. C

Case Information

Appeal from a conviction in a magistrate's court. The facts appear from the reason for judgment.

N. H. Katz, for the appellant: In order to prove the offence with which the appellant was charged, the State had to prove that the location was D validly and effectively abolished, R v Gorekwang, 1961 (3) SA 407; S v Mampura, 1964 (3) SA 477; S v Lekwena, 1965 (1) SA 527. On a proper interpretation of sec. 3 (2) of Act 25 of 1945, the consent of the Minister must embody directions as to the 'terms and conditions as to compensation.' Although the terms and conditions are within the discretion of the Minister, it is a peremptory requirement of the E section that they be given. This interpretation is supported by the fact that, apart from this sec. 3 (2), no other provision is made in the Act whereby compensation is granted to inhabitants of the location abolished in terms of the section. Cf. the Afrikaans text which puts the position beyond doubt. Sec. 3 (2) has been referred to in Sheshe v Vereeniging Municipality, 1951 (3) SA 661; Monto and Another v. F Campbell and Others, 1951 (4) SA 372; 1953 (2) SA 77; 1954 (4) SA 222; Brown v Klerksdorp Town Council, 1955 (3) SA 599; S v Mofokeng, 1966 (2) SA 329. It is significant that, in all the above cases, terms and conditions as to compensation were directed. The G presumption on which the magistrate relied, viz. omnia praesumuntur, is not applicable because the necessary pre-requisite of its applicability as set out in Byers v Chinn and Another, 1928 AD 322, is not fulfilled. See also R v Supra, 1958 (1) SA 474; Germiston Stadsraad v Thusi, 1959 (4) SA 578; R v Dumdum, 1953 (3) SA 584; Nigel Town Council v Ah Yat, 1950 (2) SA 182; R v Joffe, 1950 (3) SA 251; R. H v. Henkins, 1954 (3) SA 560. If it is held that the presumption does apply, then the onus, which rested on the appellant, was discharged.

E. C. Heller, for the State.

Cur adv vult.

Postea (September 11th).

1967 (4) SA p350

Judgment

Eloff, A.J.:

The appellant was the holder of a site permit granted to him by the City Council of Benoni in respect of stand 110 (a), Benoni Location, and he was at all relevant times in occupation thereof. During about June, 1966, the City Council resolved to abolish the Benoni A Location, which is one established by it in terms of sec. 2 of the Bantu (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act, 25 of 1945, and to that end it approached the Minister for Bantu Administration and Development for his consent thereto. Such consent was thereafter given by letter dated 23rd November, 1966, which reads as follows:

B 'Die Bantoesakekommissaris, Benoni.

Benoni: Afskaffing van Benoni Bantoewoongebied:

U No. N9/15/3(2) van 10 Junie 1966 verwys:

Sy Edele die Minister van Bantoe-administrasie en - ontwikkeling het die afskaffing van die bogenoemde stedelike Bantoewoongebied, kragtens art. 3 (2) van Wet 25 van 1945, goedgekeur, 'n kennisgewing in die C verband sal eersdaags in die Staatskoerant verskyn.

(Get.) J. F. Stevens, Sekretaris van Bantoe-

administrasie en - ontwikkeling.'

The notice in the Government Gazette which is referred to in the letter was...