The SCA has revised its judgment regarding Sactwu's claim, reducing the awarded amount from R458 million to R300 million, effective March 2026.
The SCA in a rectification letter has informed Sactwu and the Independent Media Consortium (IMC) that it has rectified its initial judgment where the SCA awarded an amount of R458 million to Sactwu plus interest from 2023 onwards. This has now been rectified to be R300 million effective March 2026.
From a legal perspective this is an important rectification as the in duplum rule has guided the courts and it is not possible for any legal entity to charge more than the capital amount in interest.
Sactwu had loaned a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) R150 million in 2013. Sactwu took the SPV (IMC) to the High Court (HC) in the Western Cape in 2023. Judge O’Sullivan In the High Court of Western Cape ruled in favour of the Independent Media Consortium on the basis that the Sactwu loan was subordinated and that Andre Kriel, the Secretary General of Sactwu had full authority to enter into the subordination agreement. Sactwu then took the judgement on appeal at the SCA to overcome the subordination and authority ruling. The SCA ruled in Sactwu’s favour and surprisingly disregarded the in duplum rule and made the judgement that added to the R150 million would be the arrears interest, taking the amount to R458 million plus interest from 2023 onwards. The SCA has now rectified this error and confirmed that the in duplum rule applies as in all similar cases and the IMC consortium amount owing to Sactwu is capped at R300 million.
