| (1) | Subject to subsections (2) and (3), and unless the court under exceptional circumstances orders otherwise, the operation and execution of a decision which is the subject of an application for leave to appeal or of an appeal, is suspended pending the decision of the application or appeal. |
| (2) | Subject to subsection (3), unless the court under exceptional circumstances orders otherwise, the operation and execution of a decision that is an interlocutory order not having the effect of a final judgment, which is the subject of an application for leave to appeal or of an appeal, is not suspended pending the decision of the application or appeal. |
| (3) | A court may only order otherwise as contemplated in subsection (1) or (2), if the party who applied to the court to order otherwise, in addition proves on a balance of probabilities that he or she will suffer irreparable harm if the court does not so order and that the other party will not suffer irreparable harm if the court so orders. |
| (a) | If a court orders otherwise, as contemplated in subsection (1)— |
| (i) | the court must immediately record its reasons for doing so; |
| (ii) | the aggrieved party has an automatic right of appeal to the next highest court; |
| (iii) | the court hearing such an appeal must deal with it as a matter of extreme urgency; and |
| (iv) | such order will be automatically suspended, pending the outcome of such appeal. |
| (b) | ‘Next highest court’, for purposes of paragraph (a)(ii), means— |
| (i) | a full court of that Division, if the appeal is against a decision of a single judge of the Division; or |
| (ii) | the Supreme Court of Appeal, if the appeal is against a decision of two judges or the full court of the Division. |
[Section 18(4) substituted by section 29 of the Judicial Matters Amendment Act, 2023, Notice No. 4597, GG50430, dated 3 April 2024]
| (5) | For the purposes of subsections (1) and (2), a decision becomes the subject of an application for leave to appeal or of an appeal, as soon as an application for leave to appeal or a notice of appeal is lodged with the registrar in terms of the rules. |
