Provisional liquidation orders are not appealable, High Court holds — departing from Siyanda

The applicants sought leave to appeal a provisional liquidation order granted against them. The question was whether such an order is appealable at all, given the interplay between the Insolvency Act and the Constitutional Court's relaxation of common-law finality principles for non-final orders.

The court held: The court dismissed the application for leave to appeal, holding that a provisional liquidation order is not appealable. Once a provisional liquidation order is granted, the company is "in winding-up" and s 339 of the old Companies Act triggers s 150 of the Insolvency Act, which bars appeals. The Constitutional Court's relaxation of the common-law finality test in Tshwane and Lebashe dealt only with appealability at common law and does not displace this statutory bar. To the extent Siyanda suggested provisional liquidation orders are appealable, the court held it was clearly wrong and not binding. Costs were awarded on the punitive scale C.

Legal impact: This judgment develops the law on a previously unsettled question by establishing that the statutory bar in s 150 of the Insolvency Act operates independently of common-law finality principles. It creates an express divergence from Siyanda at High Court level. Practitioners can no longer rely on the Tshwane/Lebashe interests-of-justice framework to appeal provisional liquidation orders. Companies placed in provisional liquidation must challenge the order at the return day rather than by appeal, which materially affects litigation strategy and timing.