Blue Crane Route Municipality v Municipal Workers Retirement Fund and Another

The applicant municipality failed to deduct and remit correct pension fund contributions for its employees between 2007 and 2013, breaching s 13A of the Pension Funds Act 24 of 1956. A default judgment was granted in November 2019 ordering payment of capital contributions and statutory interest. In January 2024, the Municipal Workers Retirement Fund issued a writ of execution claiming interest far exceeding the capital amount. The municipality paid the capital and tendered interest calculated subject to the in duplum rule, contending that interest (including post-judgment interest) could not exceed double the capital. The Fund disputed the applicability of the in duplum rule to statutory interest under the PFA. The municipality sought to set aside the writ and obtain a declarator limiting interest by the in duplum rule.

The writ of execution was set aside; it was declared that the interest payable by the municipality under the prior judgment is limited by the application of the in duplum rule; and the first respondent was ordered to pay the applicant’s costs, including the costs of two counsel on Scale C.

The judgment reaffirms and clarifies that the in duplum rule applies broadly to statutory debts, including interest payable under the Pension Funds Act, and not only to contractual obligations. It confirms that statutory schemes providing for interest do not displace the common law absent clear legislative intent, and that courts are not functus officio in enforcing the in duplum limitation post-judgment. The case is significant for municipalities, pension funds, and public bodies dealing with long-outstanding statutory debts.