| (1) | Any party to any civil action or other proceeding where the attendance of witnesses is required may procure the attendance of any witness (whether residing or for the time being within the district or not) in the manner in the rules provided. |
| (a) | If any person, being duly subpoenaed to give evidence or to produce any books, papers or documents in his possession or under his control which the party requiring his attendance desires to show in evidence, fails, without lawful excuse, to attend or to give evidence or to produce those books, papers or documents according to the subpoena or, unless duly excused, fails to remain in attendance throughout the trial, the court may, upon being satisfied upon oath or by the return of the messenger that such person has been duly subpoenaed and that his reasonable expenses, calculated in accordance with the tariff prescribed under section 51bis, have been paid or offered to him, impose upon the said person a fine not exceeding R300, and in default of payment, imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months, whether or not such person is otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of the court. |
| (b) | If any person so subpoenaed fails to appear or, unless duly excused, to remain in attendance throughout the trial the court may also, upon being satisfied as aforesaid and in case no lawful excuse for such failure seems to the court to exist, issue a warrant for his apprehension in order that he may be brought up to give his evidence and to be otherwise dealt with according to law, whether or not such person is otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of the court. |
| (c) | The court may, on cause shown, remit the whole or any part of any fine or imprisonment which it has imposed under this subsection. |
| (d) | The court may order the costs of any postponement or adjournment occasioned by the default of a witness or any portion of such costs to be paid out of any fine imposed upon such witness. |
| (3) | Notwithstanding anything in this section contained, when a subpoena is issued to procure the attendance of a judicial officer to give evidence or to produce any book, paper or document in a criminal case, civil action or other proceeding, if it appears— |
| (i) | that he is unable to give any evidence or to produce any book, paper or document which would be relevant to any issue in such case, action or proceedings; or |
| (ii) | that such book, paper or document could properly be produced by some other person; or |
| (iii) | that the compelling of his attendance would be an abuse of the process of the court, |
the court may, after reasonable notice to the party suing out the subpoena, make an order cancelling such subpoena.
| (4) | When the court requires information pertaining to an infrastructure related or operational matter that arose at the court which falls within the responsibility of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the court manager of that court must be subpoenaed to give evidence for this purpose and if he or she is unavailable or unable to respond or provide a satisfactory response, the following officials of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development may be subpoenaed: |
| (a) | The provincial Head of the province in which the court is situated; |
| (b) | the Deputy Director-General responsible for court administration; or |
| (c) | the Director-General. |
[Section 51(4) inserted by section 1 of the Judicial Matters Amendment Act, 2024, Notice No. 4597, GG50430, dated 3 April 2024]
