Van Heerden AJ
or Mr Kolver in his capacity as executor to pay costs would be to burden those ill-resourced to do so with the costs of asserting important constitutional rights in the interests of the broader society. The exceptional circumstances of this case call for an exceptional costs order. Justice and equity thus require that the Minister should be ordered to pay Mr Gory’s costs, not only in this Court, but also in the court below, as well as the costs of the first respondent in both courts.
Order
[66] In the circumstances, the following order is made:
(a)
The application for leave to intervene by the first to the fourth intervening parties is granted, with no order being made as to costs.
(b)
The conditional application for leave to intervene by Mr Bobby Lee Bell is granted, with no order being made as to costs.
(c)
The first respondent’s application for leave to appeal is granted, the appeal succeeds in part and is dismissed in part, as appears from paragraph
(f) below.
(d)
The application for confirmation is granted to the extent set out in paragraph
(f) below.
(e)
The order handed down by the Pretoria High Court on 31 March 2006 is set aside.
(f)
1.
It is declared that, with effect from 27 April 1994, the omission in section 1(1) of the
Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 after the word “spouse”, wherever it appears in the section, of the words “or partner in
