WHAT IS AN INTERDICT?

An interdict is the name for a special kind of court order which tells someone to do something, or not to do something. For example, you can ask the court to make a court order to stop a landlord if he tries to evict tenants in an illegal way. You can apply for an interdict in the High Court and in the Magistrate’s Court.

WHO CAN BRING AN INTERDICT?

You can bring an interdict in 3 ways:

• As an individual representing yourself or your family
• As an organisation or church representing the members of your organisation
• As a community leader, organisation or religious body representing a community As an individual, you will have to ask an attorney to help you get an interdict. (See Steps in getting an interdict)

PROBLEMS WITH INTERDICTS

STRICT LEGAL RULES FOR BRINGING AN INTERDICT
There are very strict rules for bringing an interdict which state that you must:

• Show the court that the case is very urgent. You must show that there is a very real threat if you don’t get the interdict. (See Problem 3: How urgent is the need for an interdict?)
• Have very good evidence of the threat. In other words, you must have many statements supporting your claim, witnesses, medical certificates, photographs, and so on.
• Show that NO OTHER LEGAL ACTION WOULD PROTECT you enough. For example, you must show that using the ordinary criminal courts will not help because they are too slow or that they have not helped protect you in the past.

STEPS IN GETTING AN INTERDICT

1. DRAW UP STATEMENTS: The person (or people) who wants to get an interdict must draw up statements of what has happened and why they want the interdict. (See Taking a statement)

2. APPROACH AN ATTORNEY: Contact an attorney and hand over the statement(s). The attorney will meet the person who wants to get the interdict as well as any witnesses. The attorney will check on the information and may want to take further statements.

3. MAKE AFFIDAVITS: The attorney will draft affidavits for people to sign. (See Affidavits)

4. GET AN INTERIM INTERDICT: The attorney approaches the Court to ask for a temporary interdict. A temporary interdict is also called an interim interdict. If you get an interim interdict, this means that the court gives you the interdict but only for a short time. In other words, the court says that you are protected but only until a certain date. In the meantime, the other side gets a chance to answer your affidavit/s and defend themselves. The interim interdict lasts until the case comes back to the court at the set date.

5. GET A FINAL INTERDICT: If the other side decides to fight the case, a date will be set for the Court to decide whether you should get a permanent or final interdict.

IGNORING THE INTERDICT

Sometimes you get an interdict but the other party just ignores it. Then you can take further legal action against the other side. You can get your attorney to go back to court and ask the court to lock up the other party for refusing to obey the interdict. The other party is in contempt of court.

LIMITED EFFECT OF INTERDICTS

Interdicts are not necessarily a lasting solution to a problem. For example, a farmworker may get an interdict to prevent a farmer from unlawfully evicting him. But the farmer can then just get a court order, allowing him or her to evict the farmworker lawfully.
But interdicts can be useful by publicly exposing unlawful actions by people. Interdicts also give you some time in which to decide what you are going to do.
In this time you might be able to negotiate with the other side about a settlement that will suit both sides.

COST OF GETTING AN INTERDICT

Interdicts cost a lot of money to bring to court. If you lose the case you might have to pay for the other side’s costs.

SPECIAL KINDS OF INTERDICTS

A protection order is a special kind of interdict that you can get under the Domestic Violence Act to stop any person abusing you in the home. A protection order is an order from the court telling an abuser to stop abusing someone. (See Problem 7: getting a Protection Order)