DIRECTIVE 02 OF 2026: ENHANCED CASE MANAGEMENT: MOTION PROCEEDINGS AND URGENT COURT ADMINISTRATION

This Directive is effective 27 July 2026

A.   Introduction

This Practice Direction is adopted pending consideration of amendments to the Rules.

It is issued in response to systemic operational deficiencies identified in the functioning of the urgent and unopposed court, including the late filing and bundling of documents, the absence of complete Caselines bundles at the time of hearing, inconsistent practices and the enrolment of matters that are not hearing-ready.

These challenges have been compounded by the absence of firm cut-off deadlines, uncertainty regarding roles and responsibilities, and inconsistent enforcement of procedural requirements, resulting in inefficiency and ad hoc compromises in urgent proceedings.

This Practice Direction is introduced to restore procedural discipline, standardise practice, and ensure that matters are properly prepared before being placed before the Court. It does not replace, amend or substitute the Rules, but gives practical effect to them and Directive 1 of 2025.

This Practice Direction is issued by the Judge President in terms of section 173, read with section 165 of the Constitution, and the powers inherent in the office to regulate the administration and functioning of the Court, including enrolment, case preparation and the management of court rolls.

These powers are exercised to ensure fair, efficient and expeditious administration of justice.

B.   Extension of Directive 03 of 2025

As the renovations to the Labour Court premises in Braamfontein have not yet been finalised, the arrangements and measures contained in Directive 03 of 2025, including

    • the relocation of administrative and Registrar services to the 5th Floor, 86 Juta Street, Braamfontein;
    • the hearing of Labour Court trials at the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Johannesburg;
    • the hearing of unopposed motions, contempt applications and interlocutory proceedings at the Land Court, Randburg; and
    • the conduct of opposed motions and urgent applications by way of virtual proceedings,

shall continue to apply and remain in force until 31 December 2026, unless otherwise directed by the Judge President.

1.   Application

1.1. This Practice Direction applies to all Registrars, practitioners and litigants and must be read together with Directive 1 of 2025 and Rules 35 and 38 of the Rules of the Labour Court.

2.   Foundational Principle: Hearing readiness

2.1. A matter shall not be enrolled unless it is procedurally compliant and reasonably capable of being heard. A compliant matter is one which, following its scheduling on the Court Online portal by the Registrar, has been properly updated, indexed, paginated and prepared in accordance with Directive 1 of 2025, and in respect of which such compliance has been communicated to, and verified by, the Registrar. A matter in respect of which there is no complete, properly sequenced and updated Caselines bundle is not properly before the Court.

The Registrar shall refuse final enrolment of any non-compliant matter.

The scheduling of a matter on the Court Online platform does not automatically constitute final enrolment and does not place the matter properly before the Court.

3.   Court Online and Caselines: Functional clarification

3.1. Court Online constitutes the official filing platform, and Caselines constitutes the adjudication bundle for purposes of hearing.

3.2. A matter is not properly before the Court unless the Caselines bundle is complete, properly sequenced and updated in accordance with Directive 1 of 2025.

3.3. The failure to create or properly prepare a Caselines bundle constitutes non-compliance and precludes final enrolment of the matter.

4.   Unopposed motion sequencing of enrolment and bundling

4.1. For the avoidance of doubt, the allocation of a hearing date by the Registrar and the scheduling of the matter on Court Online precede the creation, pagination and indexing of the case bundle.

4.2. Upon allocation of a hearing date, the applicant must comply with the Rules and Directive 1 of 2025 by creating and uploading a complete Caselines bundle within the prescribed timeframes.

4.3. In unopposed applications, the applicant must collate and create the bundle within five (5) court days of allocation and ensure that the bundle is updated and finalised not later than fourteen (14) court days before the hearing, unless otherwise directed.

5.   Registrar’s control and enforcement

5.1. The Registrar must enforce compliance with Directive 1 of 2025 and all related procedural requirements and shall refuse to enrol any noncompliant matter.

5.2. This includes, but is not limited to, matters where bundles are incomplete, not properly paginated or indexed, or where documents are uploaded out of time.

6.   Urgent roll management

6.1. The process for the enrolment of urgent matters is initiated by the Registrar through the pre-enrolment and scheduling of the matter on the Court Online platform.

6.2. Upon such scheduling, the parties are required to comply fully with the Rules of the Court and Directive 1 of 2025, including the preparation, creation and uploading of a complete Caselines bundle.

6.3. The enrolment of a matter shall only be regarded as complete once there has been full compliance with these requirements.

6.4. Parties must ensure full compliance by no later than 13:00 on Thursday of the week preceding a Tuesday of the hearing week.

6.5. The Registrar must finalise and close the urgent court roll by no later than 16:00 on Thursday, and only matters that are fully compliant as at 13:00 may be included on the roll.

6.6. A matter that is not compliant by the prescribed deadline shall not be enrolled or, if provisionally scheduled, shall not be finally enrolled. The Court may remove or strike off the roll any noncompliant matter that is for whatever reason enrolled

6.7. No additions to, or amendments of, the roll shall be made after closure without the direction of the Presiding, Deputy Judge President or Senior Judge.

6.8. This framework constitutes a regulation of procedure and timing and does not limit the right of access to the Court, but ensures its orderly, fair and efficient exercise.

6.9. Upon closure of the roll, the Registrar must submit it to the Deputy Judge President or the Senior Judge for allocation and distribution of work, including the allocation of overflow matters where necessary.

7.   Exception: Genuine urgency and Judicial oversight

7.1. Only matters of genuine and demonstrable urgency may warrant deviation from the prescribed process,

7.2. In such cases, the Registrar shall not enrol the matter and must immediately refer it to the Deputy Judge President, President or Senior Judge for direction.

7.3. No matter shall be enrolled outside the prescribed framework without such direction, thereby ensuring that any deviation is controlled, justified, and consistently applied.

_______________________

Judge E. Molahlehi

Judge President

Labour and Labour Appeal Courts of South Africa 27 July 2026