Tag: High Court

The Supreme Court of Appeal has backed Commissioner Kieswetter and issued a stern warning to all South Africans to refrain from assisting others in evading their tax obligations. Where you are caught, South African Revenue Service (SARS) will go after your personally. This is now settled law in South Africa and directors or companies, tax advisors, lawyers, accountants, or even payroll professionals can find themselves on the hook.

A landmark high court ruling found that business rescue practitioners can't "have their cake and eat it too". The case involving sugar giant Tongaat Hulett, balances the principles of corporate rescue with the broader societal imperatives of industry regulation.

The nature of guarantees has once again been dealt with decisively by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) this time in the matter between Bonifacio and another vs Lombard (Bonifacio). A guarantee is an obligation to make payment upon the occurrence of an event.

The Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA) is an empowering piece of legislation and allows that secretes cannot be hidden in the shadows. The matter of The Health Justice Initiative vs The Minister of Health provides insight from a regulatory point of view, not only since it has consequences for the privacy and information regime but also the procurement regime.

The recent decision by the Gauteng High Court denoting that creditors who have acquired their claim in a business after business rescue has commenced are not entitled to vote on business rescue plans could set a significantly risky precedent for any future organisations facing business rescue.

The recent statements by ANC parliamentary chief whip Pemmy Majodina regarding the National Health Insurance (NHI) bill's ‘amendability’ have highlighted a significant misunderstanding of the law making process. Majodina's assurance that the bill can be amended if necessary, simplifies a complex legislative and judicial process.

The Gauteng High Court recently dismissed the appeal of Unitrans Holdings (Unitrans) against the Tax Court judgment which had denied a tax deduction for interest incurred. The court found that the interest incurred was not closely connected to Unitrans’ business operations as an investment holding company and that the purpose of the interest was not to produce income but to further the interests of the subsidiaries.

Jean-Paul Rudd | Partner | Adams and Adams | mail me | An appeal serving before a full bench in the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division, Pretoria...

Should post-commencement financiers have a vote on business rescue plans? A critical look at Wescoal Mining (Pty) Ltd & Another versus Mkhombo NO & Others (2023-079991) [2023] ZAGPJHC 1097 (2 October 2023). On 2 October 2023 Judge Wilson of the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa endeavoured to ascribe a meaning to the undefined term "creditor" in Chapter 6 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (the Companies Act).  

The South African courts have by and large, consistently upheld an employer’s right to restrain an employee form unfairly competing with a former employer where certain conditions have been met. These include the employer being able to show a protectable interest and a properly drafted restraint.