Frank Mhlongo and Others v Tryphinah Mokoena N O and Others

The appellants, beneficiaries of the Nhlangwini Community Trust, brought an application in the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Pretoria, seeking extensive financial disclosures from the trustees of the Trust and their attorneys, including bank statements and trust account records, and interdictory relief preventing payment of trust funds. The leased trust property was situated in Mpumalanga. The eighth respondent raised a point in limine, contending that the Gauteng Division lacked jurisdiction because a Gauteng Division Practice Directive purported to exclude that court’s jurisdiction over matters arising in specified Mpumalanga magisterial districts, directing such matters to the Mbombela or Middelburg circuit courts. The High Court upheld the jurisdictional point and dismissed the application without considering the merits. The appellants appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The appeal was upheld with costs. The order of the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Pretoria, was set aside and replaced with an order dismissing the eighth respondent’s jurisdictional point in limine with costs. Clause 1.5 of Gauteng Division Practice Directive No 1 of 2015 was declared null and void ab initio and set aside.

The case affirms the supremacy of statute over practice directives in determining jurisdiction and clarifies the limits of a Judge President’s powers under the Superior Courts Act. It confirms that circuit courts do not constitute separate divisions and cannot exclude the jurisdiction of a High Court. The decision reinforces legal certainty regarding concurrent jurisdiction and strengthens the principle that jurisdiction cannot be altered by administrative or procedural instruments.