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How to Escape from a Property Suretyship

“Suretyship is the precursor of ruin” (Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece) As the philosopher and mathematician Thales pointed out two and a half millennia ago, signing surety for another’s debts carries huge risk. Yet every day directors of property holding companies happily sign personal suretyships for their company’s (usually

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fired businessman reading the notice of job termination

Depressed and Dismissed – A Hard Lesson for a Hard Employer

A recent Labour Court decision shows how dangerous it is as an employer, when attempting to dismiss an employee, not to draw a clear distinction between misconduct and incapacity.   Disciplined for depression An employee, whose track record had originally been an excellent one, was charged at a disciplinary enquiry with four  charges of misconduct

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your daily routine matters

Your Website of the Month: Science and Your Daily Routine

“The Greatest Wealth is Health” (Virgil, Roman poet)   We lead increasingly hectic lives, and in the business world in particular we desperately need to find efficient and effective ways to maximise our health. Probably the best and easiest way of achieving that is to set up and follow a good, healthy daily routine. Routines

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Whistleblowers: What If Your Disclosure is Factually Wrong?

For many years now the “Whistleblower’s Act” (actually the Protected Disclosures Act or “PDA”) has been providing protection to employees who report unlawful or improper conduct by their employers or fellow employees. Recent updates to the PDA have extended protection to independent contractors, consultants, agents and workers employed by labour brokers. There is also a

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divorce and dividing a property concept. man and woman are signi

Life Partners: Beware the “Common Law Marriage” Myth!

“The general rule of our law is that cohabitation does not give rise to special legal consequences, no matter how long the relationship has endured” (From a 2010 High Court judgment and still applicable) One of the more pervasive myths in South Africa is that, if you live together for long enough as “life partners”,

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