Municipality of Port Elizabeth v Rhona Smit

The Municipality of Port Elizabeth was responsible for maintaining manhole covers in the city. The respondent, Rhona Smit, stepped on a manhole cover on a pavement which had become displaced, causing it to tilt and resulting in her falling into the manhole and sustaining leg injuries. She successfully claimed damages of R9 000 in the magistrates’ court. The municipality’s appeals to the Eastern Cape Division and thereafter to the Supreme Court of Appeal were pursued. After leave to appeal to the SCA was granted, the parties concluded a settlement agreement effectively resolving all disputes between them, regardless of the outcome of the appeal, leaving no live controversy between the parties.

The appeal was dismissed with costs in terms of s 21A(1) of the Supreme Court Act 59 of 1959.

The case is significant for clarifying the application of s 21A(1) of the Supreme Court Act and confirming that appellate courts should generally decline to decide appeals that have become academic or lack any practical effect due to settlement. It underscores judicial reluctance to decide matters of principle in the absence of a live dispute and adversarial argument, reinforcing limits on precedent-setting in such circumstances.