Adv. Dwight Snyman

Empowering South African Attorneys in an Era of Judicial Reluctance. Your ‘how to’ guide on Urgent Applications in South African courts.

Urgent applications were once the sharpest arrow in a litigator’s quiver—a vital instrument to protect clients from irreparable harm when time was of the essence. But the ground has shifted beneath our feet. Today, launching an urgent application in South Africa is less like wielding a sword and more like tap-dancing through a minefield. And yet, all is not lost.

Rather than despair, the seasoned practitioner must adapt, sharpen their strategy, and learn to navigate urgency with precision and purpose. This is your guide to surviving—and, where possible, succeeding—in a judicial climate increasingly hostile to claims of urgency.

1. Recognise the Reality: The Landscape Has Changed

First, let us name the beast. The South African judiciary is buckling under the weight of insufficient resources, too few judges, and a court roll groaning under the strain of delays and backlogs. In this context, judges have adopted a default posture of scepticism—if not outright hostility—toward urgent applications.

What once passed as “urgent” no longer qualifies. A looming business collapse? Too commercial. Financial prejudice? Not enough. Missed contractual deadlines? Plan better. Today, urgency must be catastrophic, immediate, and demonstrably irreparable. Think: unlawful evictions, serious infringements of constitutional rights, or situations involving physical harm.

We are no longer operating in an environment where urgency is taken at face value. Urgency must now be proven beyond doubt. And even then, the court might still decline to hear you.

2. Know When to Avoid Urgency Altogether

The most empowering decision you can make as a legal practitioner? Know when not to bring an urgent application.

• Unless it is genuinely unavoidable, urgency should be the last option on the table.
• Explore every conceivable alternative before approaching the urgent court.
• Exhaust internal remedies.
• Consider motion proceedings with truncated timeframes by agreement.
• Try to resolve matters on the papers before making the leap into the inferno.

This isn’t cowardice—it’s pragmatism. An urgent application that fails on procedural grounds can do more damage than no application at all, not least of which is the reputational damage with both bench and client.

3. If You Must Go Urgent, Overprepare Ruthlessly

If urgency is unavoidable, then preparation becomes your sword and shield. You are not just proving the merits of your case—you are litigating the urgency itself.

Bulletproof Your Founding Affidavit

Demonstrate, in clear chronological terms, every step taken to avoid urgency. Eliminate any suggestion that delay, oversight, or indecision contributed to the situation. Judges are looking for evidence of haste taken in good faith, not manufactured drama.

Prove Irreparable Harm

The threshold is high. Demonstrate why ordinary motion or action proceedings will render relief meaningless. Be graphic, be granular, be clear.

Pre-empt the “Self-Created Urgency” Rebuttal

Assume it will come and rebut it before it’s raised. This is now the default attack line from both opposing counsel and the bench. Deal with it head-on.

Urgency is no longer a procedural mechanism—it is the entire battlefield.

4. Anticipate and Deflect Judicial Hostility

The judiciary is tired. Not lazy, not disinterested—just exhausted, overburdened, and cynical from years of thinly motivated urgent applications.

This means your posture in court must be respectful but robust. Do not expect understanding. Do not expect benefit of the doubt. Expect scepticism and prepare accordingly.

The question is no longer “Is your case urgent?” It is: “Can you persuade a battle-weary judge that this application justifies jumping the queue of hundreds?”

If you can’t answer that confidently—step back.

5. Manage Client Expectations Like a Professional

Clients often conflate urgency with importance. But the courts do not see it that way.

You must disabuse clients—early and clearly—of the belief that urgency means justice will be swift. Explain the risks. Be honest about the cost implications. Detail the real possibility that the court will not even engage with the merits of their case.

It is better to lose a client by being candid than to keep them and fail them in court. Worse still is to succeed on merits only to be struck off for “lack of urgency” and burdened with a punitive costs order.

6. Weaponise Your Knowledge of Judicial Psychology

The best defence against an urgent application? Attack the urgency itself.

This has become the go-to tactic for opponents who understand how skittish the courts have become. Challenge the timing, the delay, the alternatives not pursued. Force the court to rule on urgency first—because if urgency fails, merits never matter.

You must do the same when defending. This is the new strategic orthodoxy, and to ignore it is to enter battle with no armour.

7. Know What Might Still Qualify as Urgent

Let’s be honest: only a narrow band of matters still survive scrutiny.

You’re likely to succeed if:

• There is a real risk of imminent physical harm, unlawful detention, or eviction.
• The application relates to human rights violations or constitutional infringements.
• There is demonstrable and irreversible prejudice that cannot be repaired in due course.

Even then, success depends on framing. Courts need to feel the weight of urgency—not just read it.

8. Urgency as a Symptom: Understand the Bigger Picture

What’s happening with urgent applications is a reflection of a deeper systemic dysfunction. Our courts are stretched beyond capacity. Permanent judges are in short supply. Judicial case management is underdeveloped. Infrastructure is creaking. These are not problems of the law—they are failures of state.

Urgency is just the first casualty. What’s next is your client’s access to justice altogether. If we as legal professionals do not begin to speak up—collectively and constructively—this decline will deepen.

It is time to push back. Through court reform. Through professional bodies. Through reasoned public discourse.

9. But Don’t Despair: Be Strategic, Not Cynical

This isn’t a call to surrender. It’s a call to smarten up. Yes, the rules are harsh. Yes, the climate is cold. But the canny practitioner can still succeed.

Success today isn’t about theatrics or urgency-by-volume. It’s about discipline, precision, and cold strategic calculation.

• Is your matter genuinely urgent?
• Have you pre-empted every procedural ambush?
• Are you prepared to defend urgency as if it were your entire case?

If yes—then go forth. You may yet succeed.

Final Word: Urgency Is a Warning Sign

Urgent applications are the legal canary in the coal mine. Their increasing impracticality warns us of the system’s broader malaise. But as lawyers, we must do more than diagnose—we must act.

If we don’t defend these tools now, they will disappear. If we don’t demand reform, our courts will choke further. And if we don’t adapt, then we too will become casualties of a system that no longer protects the urgent, nor the just.

But if we rise to the challenge—realistically, strategically, and ethically—we can still make the law work.

The law has always been a hard profession. But never one for the faint of heart. This era is no exception.

If you’re looking for assistance from an advocate who understands the Urgent Application process, contact Adv. Dwight Snyman today