Assignment 1 Semester 2 2025
Unique #:
Due Date: August 2025
Detailed solutions, explanations, workings
and references.
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, QUESTION 1
Yes, Mr Mboweni’s Evergreen Printing can use the rei vindicatio to reclaim the
printing machine and compressor from Mr Viljoen, provided it meets all the legal
requirements. The rei vindicatio is a legal remedy available to the owner of a thing to
recover it from anyone who is unlawfully controlling it, even if that person is in good
faith or paid for it.1
To succeed in court, Evergreen must prove three key things:
1. That it is the owner of the printing machine and compressor;
2. That these are existing and identifiable movable things; and
3. That USS Graphics, or Mr Viljoen, was in physical control of them when the
action was instituted.2
Ownership can be proved through the lease agreement, which shows that the
machines were not sold but merely leased. Once ownership is proved, possession
by USS Graphics creates a rebuttable presumption of ownership, but this can be
overturned by showing that the lease expired and that no transfer of ownership
occurred.3
In USS Graphics (Pty) Ltd v Urban Print Factory (Pty) Ltd, the court reaffirmed that
ownership is a strong real right, and a lessor can recover items leased out even if
they were attached to immovable property, provided they remain movable and
identifiable.4
USS Graphics’ continued use after expiry of the lease is unlawful, and Mr Viljoen
cannot claim ownership merely by attaching the items to the garage. Evergreen
Printing has a strong claim under the rei vindicatio.
QUESTION 2
The most likely legal route Mr Viljoen may rely on to argue that the printing machine
and compressor now belong to USS Graphics is the principle of accession
1
S Scott, Property Law Study Guide (PVL301) (Department of Private Law Unisa, 2016) 164.
2
ibid 165–166.
3
Ebrahim v Deputy Sheriff, Durban 1961 (1) SA 144 (D).
4
USS Graphics (Pty) Ltd and Others v Urban Print Factory (Pty) Ltd and Others (30921/2019) [2023] ZAGPJHC
138.
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