Administrative law

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996 (the supreme law of South Africa) as given effect to, by the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 states that everyone has the right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.

Administrative law can be broadly defined as a branch of public law that regulates the activities of bodies exercising public powers or performing public functions, whether with private individuals and organizations or with public authorities, irrespective of whether those bodies are public authorities in a strict sense.

The Constitutional Court has described Administrative Law as ‘an incident of the separation of powers under which the courts regulate and control the exercise of public power by the other branches of government.’

The specific application of administrative law which has emerged as a common area of practice at CDV Attorneys, surrounds the awarding of tenders by public bodies.

Tender irregularities

CDV Attorneys assist companies who are of the view that proper process has not been followed in the award of tenders assist them to the extent necessary with review proceedings with regards to any unlawful award of a tender. This includes the institution of review proceedings.

Administrative law has a large area of application and any time where decisions of organs of state and public entities are made unfairly or unlawfully, CDV Attorneys can assist in providing legal advice surrounding the best possible route to take in the event that administrative decisions are taken and without proper regard to the laws which govern same.

CDV Attorneys has been involved in instituting review proceeding against the award of tenders in excess of R400 million as well as opposing review proceedings, when such review proceedings have been brought without proper legal basis.