Dear Valued Clients,
On Sunday evening, 15 March 2020, President Ramaphosa announced that South Africa will follow best international practice around the Coronavirus pandemic and declared a national disaster in South Africa.
Following the President’s address to the nation, uncertainty, heightened fear and panic gripped the nation.
By Monday, 16 March 2020, our government issued several directives that saw schools closing, religious institutions having to adapt their worshipping practices, travel bans and travel restrictions being implemented and the limiting of mass gatherings such as social events and conferences.
The directives issued by government are fluid and will update over the coming weeks and months.
You can rest assured that despite our courts following suit, your matters entrusted to our firm, including litigation matters will continue to receive our dedicated and prompt attention.
We will inform you and keep you posted of any developments with our justice system that may impact on your matter. One such development is that the Johannesburg and Pretoria High Courts are presently only hearing urgent matters and matters that have already been enrolled and there have been restrictions placed on accessing these courts until 14 April 2020. The Magistrates Courts, though presently still operational and continuing as usual, may be required to start operating in the same manner as the abovementioned High Courts. For further information, please see the below link to our website where a circular issued by the Judge President is posted.
Whilst the order of the day is online meetings through various online meeting platforms such as Zoom and Skype, our office remains available for consulting and meeting purposes.
We have implemented the following measures at our office:
- We will attempt to ensure that all clients are directed to a boardroom immediately on entering our reception;
- Due to the current
known modes of transmission, hand sanitizers will be made available in
our reception area and in the boardrooms;
- All greeting gestures that require physical contact are prohibited;
- All our attorneys and our support team are mandated to wash their hands regularly and sanitise accordingly;
- All boardroom tables
and consulting surfaces will be cleaned continuously throughout the day
with effective cleaning materials limiting potentially harmful
residues;
- All clients and
attendees at our office that have travelled to high risk areas over the
past 20 days are to advise us immediately and the necessary steps will
be taken;
- All employees of our firm that have displayed symptoms such as a cough, sore throat, shortness of breath or fever of 38°C (measured) or more will be sent home immediately and will undergo self-quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days.
We undertake to abide by any measures that may be in force at our client’s offices and premises.
The well-being of our clients and our team is of paramount importance to us.
We wish your team and your business fortitude and success in these trying times that will hopefully pass soon.
We thank you for your continued support of our firm.
JP Villion and Goolam Norris
