Protests and appeals

Ideally, no one wishes to resort to a protest or an appeal, but sometimes there is no other resort.  Any fees mentioned below are indicative of the values laid down by MSA.

Protests

The right to protest lies solely with the Entrant or Official who considers themselves aggrieved by any decision, act or omission of an Organiser, Official, Competitor, Driver or other person connected with the event.  Any envisaged protest must be lodged timeously with the Stewards, COC, or the Secretary, and must be accompanied by the appropriate fee.  Usually the time limit is 30 minutes after the occurrence of a particular act or event leading to such a protest, but refer GCR 200 for the complete list of time limits.  The fees laid down by MSA are R2,000 for Regionals, and R5,000 for Nationals.  

The protest must be in writing and state the name and address of the protestor, grounds for the protest, and be signed.  The time of receipt must be noted and also that it was lodged with the correct fee.  Where it involves a technical inspection of another competitor, then those components must also be listed in the protest application.  Note that a separate protest is required per kart i.e. global protests are not permissible.  In certain cases the Stewards may request for a deposit to be paid by the protestor to cover the costs of others for potentially unsuccessful protests.

At a protest hearing, which is heard and ruled upon by the Stewards, no legal representation is permitted by any of the parties present.

Inadmissible protests

GCR 203 deals with protests that are inadmissible, and states the following.

A protest shall be inadmissible if:

i) it is against the refusal of an entry;

ii) it is a collective protest (signed by more than one entrant or driver);

iii) it is late, unless receipted in terms of GCR 200 (Note);

iv) it is in bad faith, frivolous or vexatious.

Protest hearing

Only certain people may attend a protest hearing, and no ‘spectators’ or ‘observers’ are allowed to be brought along by either party.  That is not to say that you cannot bring a witness along to the proceedings to add substance to your protest.  Those usually present at the hearing include the Chairman, relevant Steward/s, the COC, the Technical Consultant or Scrutineer (depending on the nature of the protest), the Competitor and his Parent/Guardian and Entrant (all as applicable), and any witnesses.  Sometimes a Judge of Fact who witnessed a particular on track incident may also be requested to attend the hearing.

The Chairman will then start proceeding by recording the names of all present, the role they are playing at the hearing, and if there are any objections to any of the parties present.  An outline of the facts leading to the protest are then presented before the hearing starts in detail.  Parties are then given the opportunity to present evidence in their favour that the Officials will use in their deliberations.  Cross-examination is also permitted.

After deliberation, the findings of the Officials will be presented to those present and this is also followed up in writing.  If the protest is successful, then the protest fee is refunded to the protestor minus an admin fee that is usually 10%.  GCR 206 deals with certain protests and states the following:

If the Stewards of the Meeting, or any higher MSA appeal body, find a protest to have been lodged in bad faith and/or to be frivolous and/or vexatious, the protestor shall be deemed guilty of a breach of these rules.  In such cases, any protest or appeal fees paid shall be forfeited and the offending party may be further penalised.

Court of Appeal

One may appeal the decision of the Stewards regarding the outcome of a protest hearing, except those decisions where the Rules state that the decision is final.  There are also certain inadmissible appeals e.g. those not lodged as per the regulations, or if it is against a Judge of Fact, etc.  Note that all fines and/or costs previously imposed must have been paid prior to an appeal being lodged.  If one wishes to lodge an appeal, then submit an application for leave to appeal to MSA.  This must usually be done before COB on the Wednesday following the running of the competition.  Alternatively, if the dispute arises because of amended results to the competition, then the leave to appeal must usually be submitted within 7 working days.

By way of example, the following procedure applies to MSA events.  The appeal application must state the full details of the background to the matter, the reasons why leave to appeal should be granted, and must be accompanied by a R5,000 fee.  If MSA grants the leave to appeal, then an additional amount of R5,000 falls due bringing the total cost of the appeal to R10,000.  The response by MSA is usually made within 7 days after submission of the application, and if successful, the matter will then be heard by an MSA Court of Appeal (COA).

Once again, note that no legal representation is permitted by any of the affected parties at these appeal hearings.

National Court of Appeal

In the case of an MSA event, if the outcome of an appeal by the COA is deemed to be a gross miscarriage of justice or it is claimed that the penalty is wholly inappropriate to the offence, then one may apply for leave to the National Court of Appeal (NCOA).  This application must be accompanied by a fee of R10,000.  If granted, a formulated appeal must be submitted within 7 working days together with an additional amount of R20,000 bringing the total cost to R30,000.

At the NCOA hearing, legal representation is discouraged, but is permitted.  However, should you intend to have such representation present, then MSA must be advised of your intention to do so at least 7 days before the hearing date so that they can arrange for their own legal counsel to be present.

Emile McGregor - MSA Technical Consultant