KZN wedding cancelled, venue keeps R12,000 deposit
A court let a KwaZulu-Natal venue keep the cash after a wedding was cancelled.
A KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) wedding drama has just turned into a full-on legal plot twist.
If you’ve ever paid a deposit for anything, you might want to pay attention.
According to The Post, the National Consumer Tribunal has ruled in favour of a local KZN wedding venue owner, allowing him to keep a R12,000 deposit after a couple cancelled their booking.
Now before you panic and cancel your wedding Pinterest board, let’s break it down.
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What actually happened?
Back in March 2022, a client paid R12,000 to lock in a wedding venue for July.
Then plans changed. The wedding was cancelled.
The venue (run by Wouter van der Merwe of The Venue Shongweni) kept the deposit, pointing to his terms and conditions, which allow for a 25% cancellation fee.
Sounds straightforward, right? Well… not quite.
The National Consumer Commission stepped in and said: “Hold up - that fee might not be fair.”
They issued a compliance notice telling the venue owner to refund the money (or most of it), arguing the charge was unreasonable under the Consumer Protection Act.
Basically: “Pay back the money.” Van der Merwe challenged the decision and the Tribunal agreed with him.
Now here’s the other twist: They didn’t actually decide whether the cancellation fee was fair or not.
Instead, they focused on something else entirely, the Commission overstepped. The Tribunal said the Commission acted “ultra vires” (fancy legal speak for “you went beyond your powers”).
In fact, they dropped a line that feels straight out of a courtroom drama: The Commission acted like “investigator, prosecutor, judge, and executioner.” Yoh yoh yoh!! It’s bad, sana!
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So what does this actually mean?
Let’s simplify it. The Commission can’t decide disputes or award money; that’s the Tribunal’s job.
Compliance notices are meant to enforce the law and not settle arguments
So the notice telling the venue owner to refund the deposit was completely thrown out.
Haibo… but the R12,000?
Well, for now the venue owner keeps it.
Not because the fee was officially ruled “fair”; but because there’s no valid order forcing him to pay it back.
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