A review of judicial enforcement of arbitral awards in South Africa

Abstract

This article postulates the constitutional ethos of upholding contracts entered between parties on the principle of good faith in practice. This is aligned to the international principle of respecting party autonomy between parties in court. A party cannot easily negate upon a contract that stipulates that a dispute must be referred to arbitration and furthermore that the arbitration award is binding upon the parties and not subject to appeal. This article aims to discuss that there is judicial enforcement of arbitral awards in South African courts. There is no distinction between national and international enforcement of arbitral awards. The principle of party autonomy is the cornerstone of the enforcement of arbitral awards. From a South Africa perspective, both national and international legislation supports the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards. This article elucidates the intricacies of the enforcement of arbitral awards and the protection of party's interests to the proceedings. This article explores the consequences of the antithetical approach to arbitration agreements and proceedings. The judiciary's practice is to uphold the contractual principle of consensus between the parties, as opposed to allowing parties to walk away from awards on frivolous reasons and renegading upon contractual terms.