THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL OF SOUTH AFRICA
JUDGMENT
Not Reportable
Case no: 982/2023
In the matter between:
THE MINISTER OF DEPARTMENT OF RURAL
DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM FIRST APPELLANT
DIRECTOR GENERAL OF DEPARTMENT OF
RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM SECOND APPELLANT
CHIEF LAND CLAIMS COMMISSIONER THIRD APPELLANT
REGIONAL LAND CLAIMS COMMISSIONER
EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE FOURTH APPELLANT
OFFICE OF THE VALUER GENERAL FIFTH APPELLANT
and
THAMSANQA DAVIS BISSET RESPONDENT
Neutral citation: The Minister of Department of Rural Development and Land
Reform and Others v Thamsanqa Davis Bisset (982/2023) [2024]
ZASCA 164 (2 December 2024)
Coram: MEYER, KATHREE -SETILOANE and UNTERHALTER JJA and
MOLOPA-SETHOSA and MOLITSOANE AJJA
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Heard: 21 November 2024
Delivered: This judgment was handed down electronically by circulation to the
parties’ representatives by email, publication on the Supreme Court of Appeal
website and released to SAFLII. The date and time for hand -down of the judgment
is deemed to be 11h00 on 2 December 2024.
Summary: Land – compensation – s 42D of the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22
of 1994 – settlement agreement – absence of concurrence – review – absence of
administrative action – powers of review.
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ORDER
On appeal from: Land Claims Court of South Africa, Randburg (Muvangua AJ
sitting as court of first instance):
1 The appeal succeeds.
2 The order of the high court is set aside, and replaced with the following order:
‘The application is dismissed’.
JUDGMENT
Unterhalter JA (Meyer and Kathree -Setiloane JJA and Molopa -Sethosa and
Molitsoane AJJA concurring):
[1] The respondent, Mr Bisset, represents the Bisset family. The Bisset family
owned land in Gqeberha. The Bisset family, in 1972, was dispossessed of their
ownership of this land as a result of past racially discriminatory laws. In terms of the
Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994 (the Restitution Act), the Bisset family
lodged a claim for the restitution of their rights in the land that they had owned. In
2008, Mr Bisset was visited by , Vanessa Daniels, an official of the Regional Land
Claims Commissione r, Eastern Cape Province , the fourth appellant (the
Commissioner). Mr Bisset, on 18 April 2008, signed a document headed,
‘Settlement Agreement in terms of s 42D of the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22
of 1994’. The document reflected the terms of an agreement in terms of which the
Bisset family would accept a restitution award as compensation for the dispossession
of their land rights. Mr Bisset did not accept that the Bisset family’s claim had been
lawfully settled and, many years later, in September 202 1, he brought proceedings
to declare the settlement agreement invalid, and have it reviewed and set aside. Mr
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Bisset also sought an extension of the 180-day period, in so far as this was necessary,
in terms of s 9(1) of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 (PAJA).
[2] The review was brought on the basis that the settlement agreement reflected
an amount in respect of the value of the land, but it failed to place any value on the
emotional suffering of the family; and hence, relevant factors were not considered.
In addition, Mr Bisset claimed that compensation was determined at the instance of
an unauthorised person; and that the settlement offer o f the Commissioner was
arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable. The review was opposed by the appellants
who defended the legality of the settlement agreement.
[3] The high court ( per Muvangua AJ), notwithstanding the passage of time,
considered it to be in the interests of justice to condone the delay of Mr Bisset in
bringing the review. As to the merits of the review, the high court held that the
Commissioner, when determining compensation, m ust, in terms of the Restitution
Act, consider both the financial and non -financial factors listed in s 33 of the
Restitution Act. The Commissioner did not do so, and thus, the high court reasoned,
the settlement agreement should be reviewed and set aside, which it then ordered.
With the leave of the high court, the appellants appeal to this Court.
[4] The premise from which the high court’s judgment proceeds is that there was
a settlement agreement concluded between Mr Bisset and the Commissioner. This
premise requires scrutiny. It is common ground that Mr Bisset on 18 April 2008
signed the document to which I have referred. Mr Bisset complained that Ms Daniels
had made him sign the document, but that the nature and content of the settlement
was not explained to him. Later in 2008, Mr Bisset stated that he advised Ms Daniels
that, ‘the settlement agreeme nt is no longer accepted’. The deponent to the
answering affidavit, Mr Maphuta, the Regional Land Claims Commissioner, denied
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that Mr Bisset had expressed any uncertainty to Ms Daniels as to what he was
signing. He further denied that the settlement agreement was not explained to him.
No confirmatory affidavit from Ms Daniels formed part of the papers.
[5] The following matters were not disputed . First, that Mr Bisset, after signing
the document, had called Ms Daniels to inform her that the settlement was no longer
accepted. Second, that the document containing the settlement agreement was not
signed by the Commissioner on behalf of the Department of Rural Development and
Land Reform (the Department) . Third, a framework settlement agreement was
signed by a Mr Daniels on behalf of the Veeplaas community claimants in April
2007 (of which Mr Bisset’s claim formed part) in terms of s 42D of the Restitut ion
Act. But this agreement nevertheless required individual claimants, such as Mr
Bisset, to conclude separate settlement agreements with the Minister of Rural
Development and Land Reform (the Minister), if they so wished. Fourth, the
Department never paid any compensation to Mr Bisset as specified in the settlement
agreement, or otherwise. Fifth, in early 2019, Mr Bisset’s attorney engaged further
with representatives of the Commissioner c oncerning appropriate compensation in
respect of Mr Bisset’s claim, among others. Meetings were held; Mr Bisset was
invited to present a proposal for compensation that included the loss suffered by the
Bisset family by way of distress directly caused by its dispossession. This, the firm
of attorneys, Maci Incorporated, acting for Mr Bisset, indicated that it could not do.
No agreement was reached, and the review was eventually brought.
[6] These undisputed facts give rise to only one conclusion. Although Mr Bisset
signed the proposed settlement agreement, there is no evidence that the Minister’s
representatives did so, or otherwise evidenced their concurrence. There was no
indication, following Mr Bisset’s disavowal of the settlement agreement, that the
indication, following Mr Bisset’s disavowal of the settlement agreement, that the
Commissioner considered there to be a binding agreement. Nor was there any
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compensation paid to the Bisset family pursuant to any settlement agreement or any
attempt to do so. In 2019, the Commissioner and Mr Bisset’s attorney recommenced
negotiations for compensation, without any indication from the Commissioner that
this was futile because a binding settlement agreement had already been concluded.
It follows that there was no settlement agreement concluded between Mr Bisset and
the Minister in terms of s 42D of the Restitution Act.
[7] If there was no settlement agreement, there was nothing to declare invalid, nor
to review and set aside. Mr Bisset is not bound by any settlement agreement. He and
the Commissioner are, therefore, at liberty to continue their negotiations to reach an
agreement. And if they cannot, then Mr Bisset may seek other recourse to pursue his
claim. The review proceedings sought to undo an agreement that had not been
concluded. The high court declared invalid, reviewed and set aside what it described
in its order as ‘the settlement agreement that was signed by the applicant [ Mr Bisset]
on 18 April 2008 ’. But all that existed was a document that contained terms upon
which a settlement was proposed, and which Mr Bisset had signed. The high court
had no power to exercise its review powers to review and set aside a document that
was not a binding settlement agreement, or, to put the matter in the framework of
public law, to review and set aside something that was not yet a decision on the part
of the Commissioner amounting to administrative action.
[8] Once that is so, the order made by the high court cannot stand. It was made
on the basis of an incorrect premise. The appeal succeeds. The appellants, given the
nature of this case, did not seek costs from Mr Bisset, either in respect of the appeal
or the proceedings before the high court.
[9] In the result, the following order is made:
1 The appeal succeeds.
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2 The order of the high court is set aside, and replaced with the following order:
‘The application is dismissed’.
_____________________________
D N UNTERHALTER
JUDGE OF APPEAL
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Appearances
For the appellants: T Seneke SC (with him L Hesselman)
Instructed by: State Attorney, Gqeberha
State Attorney, Bloemfontein
For the respondent: A M Maseti
Instructed by: Maci Attorneys, Port Elizabeth
Phatshoane Henney Attorneys, Bloemfontein.