Groundswell Developments Africa (Pty) Ltd and Others v Brown

The matter arose from an application for reconsideration referred to the Supreme Court of Appeal by the President of the SCA in terms of s 17(2)(f) of the Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013. In its judgment of 12 November 2025, the SCA dismissed the reconsideration application and awarded costs against the second applicant, Jean Pierre Nortje, on a punitive attorney-and-client scale. The Court made the punitive costs order provisional and afforded the second applicant an opportunity to make representations as to why the scale of costs should be reconsidered and varied. The second applicant subsequently filed written submissions seeking reconsideration of the punitive costs order, while the respondent filed opposing submissions supporting its confirmation.

The application for reconsideration of paragraph 2 of the Court’s order of 12 November 2025 was refused. The second applicant was ordered to pay the respondent’s costs of the reconsideration on a party-and-party scale, and the punitive attorney-and-client costs order was confirmed and made final.

The judgment underscores the SCA’s approach to punitive costs orders and confirms that such orders will be upheld where a litigant’s conduct is found to be unconscionable or abusive of the court process. It illustrates the limited scope for interfering with a punitive costs order on reconsideration, particularly where no new or compelling justification is advanced.