The recent judgment in Union-Swiss (Proprietary) Limited v
Govender and Others, delivered by the Kwa-Zulu Natal Local
Division of the High Court, dismissed an application seeking an
order that the trial set down for a period of 10 days be conducted
remotely via Microsoft Teams.
The trial was scheduled to begin on 24 August 2020. On 5 June
2020, the plaintiff's attorneys wrote to the Judge President
("JP") of the Kwa-Zulu Natal Local
Division in accordance with the JP's directive dated 1 May
2020, which stated that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, open
hearings in court were discouraged and should be a last resort. The
plaintiff's attorneys requested that the trial proceed on the
allocated date, but instead of proceeding in open court, it ought
to be conducted using Microsoft Teams.
