The Wills Act 7 of 1953 (as amended) prescribes the requirements and formalities for a valid Will.   Section 2 of the Act provides that no Will shall be valid unless:

The Will is in writing;
The Will is signed at the end thereof by the testator or by some other person in his presence or by his direction;
The witnesses must be any person of 14 years of older;
The witnesses need only sign the last page;
If the Will consiss of more than one page the testator must also sign each page.

The question is often asked how an illiterate person can sign a Will.   He can sign by making for example a cross.   This must be done in the presence of a commissioner of oaths who must complete the relevant certificate.   The commissioner of oaths may however not sign as certifying officer and as a witness.   This certificate may be in the form set out in the schedule to the Wills Act.

It is interesting that the Act does not prescribe dating the Will – it is however advisable to do so, particularly if interested parties later contest the Will as a result of having another Will in their possession.

Any person over the age of 16 years can make a Will, providing he is capable of understanding the nature and consequences of his act.   It is age that determines the capacity to make a Will, not status.   A 15 year old multi-millionaire has no capacity to make a Will.
 
The High Court of South Africa has an overriding discretion to rule on the validity of a Will.   The greater the departure from the formalities the more difficult it is for the Court to be satisfied that the Will is in fact valid.   However the bias has shifted to validate rather than invalidate a Will.

Section 23 of the Wills Act provides a “rescue provision”.   This section permits a High Court to order the Master to accept a document which has been “drafted or executed” but which does not comply with the formalities for the execution or amendment of Wills.   The Court must be satisfied however that the document as executed correctly reflects the intention of such person to be his Will.

Interesting developments in technology will no doubt test the boundaries of the current mandatory requirements regulating the validity of Wills.   Electronic Wills were dealt with particularly in McDonald vs The Master 2002 (5) SA 64N.   The Court in this case did go further to warn that the Court’s power is a discretionary power that must be used sparingly and must not be seen as a legal precedent for electronic Wills.

In a further case Van Der Merwe vs The Master 2010 ZA SCA99 the Court ruled that a Will e-mailed by the deceased to his friend was valid, but with great emphasis being placed on the intention of the deceased.