Capacity: Advocate
First admitted as an advocate: December 1991
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Date of Birth: January 1963
Qualification: B.Iuris, LLB (UFS)
Key Judgments:
- Kopanong Local Municipality v Municipal Workers Retirement Fund and Others (2231/2021) [2021] ZAFSHC 171 (19 August 2021).
- Maritz Johan Kramer v Jacobus Johannes Westraad (5602/2016) [2017] ZAFSHC (19 October 2017).
- SB Guarantee Company (RF) (Pty) Ltd v Bloemfontein Celtic Football Club (Pty) Ltd (531/2021) [2021] ZAFSHC (12 August 2021).
- Arnold Properties (Pty) Ltd v ZPC Joinery (Pty) Ltd (2310/2016) [2017] ZAFSHC (14 September 2017).
Candidate Bio
Advocate Hefer SC has been practicing as such for a period of 31 years since his admission in 1991. This on its own would point to the wealth of legal knowledge and experience that Hefer has acquired over this period of time.
Hefer started his legal career as a registrar to the then Judge JW Edeling between 1986 and 1988. It was during this time that he managed to complete his LLB degree. Immediately after completing his LLB degree in 1989, Hefer commenced with his articles of clerkship at Jan S de Villiers & Son in Cape Town. After completing his articles in 1991, Hefer was admitted as a practicing advocate at the Free State Society of Advocate. Hefer is also a member of the GCB of South Africa, since 1991 to date. Advocate Hefer SC never looked back ever since his admission as an Advocate!
Hefers has served as a part-time lecturer for the Law of Evidence and Civil Procedure at the University of the Free State in the early 2000s. He has also served as the Chairperson of the Free State Appeal Valuation Court between 2004 to 2005. Hefer has also assisted owners of communal property on how to effectively exercise communal property rights which have been awarded to them.
Advocate Hefer SC has acted in the Free State Division of the High Court on four different occasions between 2016 and 2021. During his acting stints, Hefer presided in civil trials, opposed motions, review applications, and appeals. Hefer has also presided over a criminal murder trial.
During his acting stint in 2021, Hefer penned down the judgment in Kopanong Local Municipality v Municipal Workers Retirement Fund and Others (2231/2021) [2021] ZAFSHC 171 (19 August 2021). The Kopanong Local Municipality (the Municipality) sought an order interdicting, setting aside and rescinding the Municipal Workers Retirement Fund from proceeding with an execution order and attachment of funds. The fund had been trying to secure payment of pension contributions in arrears by the Municipality in terms of section 13A of the Pension Funds Act. Hefer held that the Municipality failed to show that there were attempts to pay the monies due to the fund within their budgetary constraints or tried to obtain additional funds to defray the amounts owed by the Municipality. The court held that injustice would be done if the relief succeeds to the fund and its members who work for the Municipality. The application was dismissed with costs.
Fifty-Nine-Year-Old Advocate Hefer SC holds a B.Iuris and an LLB Degree, both obtained from the University of the Free State.
April 2022 Interview
