SIBANDA v VANSBURG DRUMGOLD ENTERPRISES & ORS 2016 (2) ZLR 487 (H)

Flynote

Practice and procedure: " parties C " joinder " application " how should be made " should be by court application, not chamber application

Practice and procedure: " parties " joinder " purpose " avoidance of unnecessary duplication of litigation

Headnote

An urgent chamber application was made for joinder in a mining dispute. The dispute involved a number of interested parties, and there were several other applications in regard to the same dispute already filed. The applicant was the landowner on whose land the mining claims in dispute were located.

Held, that applications for joinder may be brought at any stage of theproceedings but should be brought by court application and not by chamber application. The court, however, has a discretion in terms of r 4C of the High Court Rules to order a departure from the Rules as it saw fit.

Held, further, that the purpose of joinder is to ensure that all matters in the cause may be effectively and completely determined and adjudicatedupon and to prevent an unnecessary multiplication of litigation and to facilitate the speedy resolution of disputes, by ensuring that everyone whose legal interests are likely to be affected by the outcome of the proceedings is joined as a party to the proceedings. The applicant, as the landowner on whose land the disputed claims were located, clearly had an interest in the matter and joinder was ordered.