The development of class actions in South Africa: Where are we through case law?

Abstract This article analyses selected jurisprudence of various courts in South Africa on class actions. It traces the development of class actions since 1994 to date. The selected cases have been chosen because they demonstrate progression from courts’ initial narrow approach – where class actions were confined to cases involving violation of the rights contained in the Constitution to now extending them to claims outside the Bill of Rights. To a limited extent, the article borrows good practices from the developed Canadian law detailing their procedure for class actions as a comparison with the position in South Africa. The conclusion reached is that there has been a fair progress in the development of class actions.