Various advertisements were recently published in the media proclaiming that new Regional Courts have been established and they will be handling cases with the value of up to R300 000,00. The only problem is that the Minister made the announcement on 29 July 2010 in terms of an Amendment Act that had not yet come into operation! In the circumstances, he never had the power to make the announcement, at the time that he did make the announcement. He also made announcements that the Regional Courts would hear matters between R100 000,00 to R300 000,00 whereas the Act only provides for the Minister to lay down the jurisdiction up to a certain amount – and not exceed that value – so it would not actually authorise the Minister, as he purported to do, to fix parameters in the first place. The English and Afrikaans text of the Act also differ and for example, the English text does not even authorise the Minister to determine any amounts whatsoever!