Legal insights

Section 1 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (Companies Act) defines a Director as “a member of the board of a company, as contemplated in section 66, or an alternate director of a company and includes any person occupying the position of director or alternate director, by whatever name designated”.

On the 27th of March 2018, the President of the Republic of South Africa launched the Youth Employment Services (YES) Initiative, a business-led collaboration with government and labour, which aims to create more than one million paid internships for black youth.

From 9th June 2017, any Major B-BBEE Transaction is required to be registered with the B-BBEE Commission in the prescribed Form BBBEE 18, within 15 days of being concluded.

We live in a period where technology allows consumers to be contacted at any time via e-mail, phone calls and even through social media.

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (“UIF”) allows contributors to receive benefits from the fund in the event that they become unemployed, or are unable to work as a result of maternity leave, illness or the adoption of a child. UIF also provides benefits to the dependants of a deceased contributor.

Prior to 1994, South Africa was governed by apartheid regime, a system in which people were discriminated based on the colour of their skin, gender, disabilities, etc. As a result of apartheid, companies had unequal racial and gender representation of people in different levels of the organisations.

During consultation with clients, the question often arises as to which individuals in a company would be considered to be a Prescribed Officer in terms of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (“the Act”), and what does this mean for such an individual?

I attended a Corporate Governance conference in September 2016. Judge Mervyn King was one of the speakers presenting on the King IV report which replaces King III and was officially released on 1 November 2016. It is effective for financial years commencing 1 April 2017.

The Companies Act 71 of 2008 (“the Act”), provides that a company may acquire its own shares, to the extent that it is solvent and liquid, as more fully described in Section 4 of the Act.

The 2016/2017 Budget Speech by the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan saw the announcement of a Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (“SVDP”), which is aimed at encouraging South African residents with undisclosed offshore assets and income to regularise their affairs through the SVDP.