Enforcing a Judgment

What to do if Defendant fails to pay: To enforce the judgment, if the Defendant fails to pay within the 10 day grace period, the Plaintiff has to report to the small claims office that the judgment remains unsatisfied.

The Plaintiff also needs to obtain from any legal stationery store (Waltons comes to mind) a document known as a Writ of Execution against Movable Property.

The small claims judgment will then be transferred to the Civil Court office, where it will be given a new Civil Court case number.

Once this happens, your small claims judgment becomes a civil court judgment, which is recorded by the credit bureax which, in turn, "blacklists" the Defendamt and blocks any attempts made by the Defendant to obtain credit or a loan.

It means that the moment the defendant applies for credit or a loan, the fact that he/she has a civil judgment against him/her will block the application and cause it to be automatically rejected.

Being blacklisted is a nightmare experience, and having one's name removed from the blacklist, even after the judgment is satisfied, involves very long, cumbersome and frustrating procedures.

The civil court office staff will assist the Plaintiff in the completion of the Writ of Execution, which must then be taken to the Sheriff (as with the summons).

The Writ empowers the sheriff to seize any attachable property belonging to the Defendant, and the sheriff's fee for this is in the region of R120.

If the sheriff is able to seize sufficient movables to cover your claim plus his own fees, your troubles are over.

If the Defendant has no attachable assets, the civil court staff will notify the Defendant to appear in the Debtors' Court, for a financial inquiry, when the magistrate will order him/her to pay off so much each month, and/or authorise an Emoluments Attachment Order, if in fact the Defendant is employed. These court proceedings are known as S 65 procedures and, hopefully, one of these days, the Plaintiff's claim will be paid.