mad diverse employees dispute at office meeting

When Company Directors and Shareholders Come to Blows….

Company / Corporate / Compliance / Law DotNews

“…the mere exercise of majority shareholding voting rights does not amount to oppression…” (extract from judgment below) What happens when a company’s directors and shareholders fall out and cannot reconcile their differences? “Relief from oppressive or prejudicial conduct” If you should find yourself in such an unfortunate situation, our Companies Act offers you several possible […]

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Directors, Trustees: Can You Hold Your AGMs and General Meetings on Zoom?

Company / Corporate / Compliance, Property / Law DotNews

“O Wonder! …O Brave New World” (Shakespeare) Regrettably the pandemic still shows no sign of going away any time soon, and the social distancing it has brought to our “new normal” leaves companies with a dilemma. How can you comply – safely and lawfully – with the Companies Act’s stringent requirements for the holding of

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Directors and Business Rescue in the Time of COVID-19

Business, Company / Corporate / Compliance / Law DotNews

“A stitch in time saves nine” (wise old proverb) The COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown have opened up new avenues of profit for some businesses, but they have also subjected many others to the spectre of business failure. Unfortunately we can expect the level of bankruptcies to surge for some time to come, and

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Directors: Reckless Trading and Personal Liability in the Time of Coronavirus

Company / Corporate / Compliance / Law DotNews

“Better safe than sorry” (wise old proverb) The COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing economic fallout have left many businesses struggling with cash flow and even viability challenges. The result is that an increasing number of companies are either trading in insolvent circumstances, or in grave danger of doing so. Reckless trading and your risk of

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How to Stop an Ex-Director from Competing With You

Company / Corporate / Compliance, Employment and Labour Law / Law DotNews

“…the default position is that an executive director or a senior employee may not carry on business activities which fall within the scope of his company’s business during the time when he serves as director or works as employee. The default position however changes on resignation.” (Extract from judgment below) What happens if relations between

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All Companies: Prepare for the Mandatory New CIPC Compliance Checklist

Company / Corporate / Compliance / Law DotNews

The CIPC (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission) has announced that its new “compliance checklist” requirement, voluntary until now, becomes mandatory for all companies and close corporations from 1 January 2020. You must complete the checklist before submitting your annual return. So firstly check when your due date for the annual return is – for companies you will have

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Directors at War and the Liquidation Option – A Tale of Sibling Rivalry

Company / Corporate / Compliance, Insolvency / Liquidation / Law DotNews

“Family quarrels are bitter things. They dont go according to any rules” (F. Scott Fitzgerald) A company’s directors have both the power and the duty to manage the company’s affairs for its benefit. When two or more directors are in place, it’s perhaps natural for the occasional disagreement to arise between them. Indeed, regular expression

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Business Rescue: Are Your Suretyships Enforceable? A R5.5m Lesson for Directors and Creditors

Company / Corporate / Compliance, Insolvency / Liquidation, Litigation / Law DotNews

“Some people use one-half their ingenuity to get into debt, and the other half to avoid paying it” (George Prentice, newspaper editor and author) You are owed a lot of money by a company that goes into business rescue. The business rescue plan provides for creditors like you to accept a dividend of only a

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business people working office corporate team concept

The Importance of Directors’ Meeting Minutes – “Who, What, Where, When and Why?”

Business, Company / Corporate / Compliance / Law DotNews

“A company must keep minutes of the meetings of the board, and any of its committees…” (Extract from the Companies Act) Steinhoff and other high profile corporate scandals both here and overseas highlight the need for directors to ensure that their board and committee meetings (and the decisions taken at them) are correctly and accurately

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How to Escape from a Property Suretyship

Company / Corporate / Compliance, Litigation, Property / Law DotNews

“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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