KeyHealth Medical Scheme v Glopin (Pty) Ltd

Glopin (Pty) Ltd concluded a written broking agreement in 2004 with Munimed Medical Scheme to introduce members and provide ongoing broker services in return for statutory commission. The agreement contained express provisions regulating its duration and termination, tying its continuation to Glopin’s accreditation by the Council for Medical Schemes and specifying limited grounds for termination. In 2011 the agreement was assigned to KeyHealth Medical Scheme. In February 2017 KeyHealth purported to terminate the agreement for alleged statutory and contractual breaches, which Glopin treated as repudiation. Although KeyHealth later abandoned that termination, it purported in March 2017 to revoke Glopin’s ‘authority’ to act under the agreement on the basis that it was a mandate revocable at will. Glopin challenged both the termination and revocation, seeking declaratory relief that the agreement remained valid and enforceable.

The appeal was dismissed with costs, including the costs of two counsel.

The judgment clarifies the distinction in South African law between revocation of authority and termination of a contract of mandate, and confirms that not all agreements involving ‘authority’ constitute mandates revocable at will. It affirms contractual certainty by upholding agreed duration and termination clauses, and provides important guidance on the legal nature of medical scheme broking agreements within the statutory framework of the Medical Schemes Act.