Cape Talk - Landmark ruling Clicks Retailers and SARS - Section 24C of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962

2024 Budget summary: VAT

Dying for a cash in: Life insurance claims amid criminal investigations

South Africa grapples with one of the highest crime rates in the world, driven by a multitude of factors. The South African Police Service (SAPS) is significantly outnumbered by offenders, and its efforts are hampered by a lack of resources and inadequate training. Unfortunately, this situation has become a norm rather than an anomaly for SouthAfricans. 

Unilateral decisions by business rescue practitioners: A make or break in the termination of business rescue proceedings

Monyela N.O and Others v Tayob N.O and Others (2023/117272) ZAGPPHC 86 (2 February 2024 ) involved an application for leave to appeal a judgment granted in the urgentcourt.  

Kenya’s tax outlook for 2024

Since coming into office in September 2022, the incumbent Kenyan Government has implemented policy measures aimed at steering economic recovery. As per the 2023 Budget Policy Statement and the Fourth Medium-Term Plan, it is currently targeting five key priority sectors. These sectors include agricultural transformation; the micro-, small- and medium-size enterprise economy; housing and settlement; healthcare; digital superhighway; and the creative industry. The Government is also redesigning taxation instruments to make them supportive of economic activity while boosting revenue collection. All these interventions have yielded progress, as the economy indicated an average growth rate of 5,6% in the first three quarters of 2023, up from 4,8% in 2022.

Can Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) be a pathway to affordable homeownership?

Kenya’s affordable housing agenda is a government initiative aimed at addressing the housing deficit in the country by providing affordable and decent housing for its citizens through homeownership. This initiative aligns with the Government’s broader development goals outlined in its Vision 2030 blueprint. The key challenges that have been identified as the barriers to delivering this agenda include (i) limited capacity for rapid construction of affordable homes even though the Government has initiated large-scale construction projects across the country; (ii) lack of guaranteed off-take, which undermines property developers’ confidence in exiting developments upon completion; and (iii) limited access to financing options that could enable developers bring more affordable homes to the market.

Increase in interest rates: A delicate balance between contractual freedom and consumer protection

That parties have contractual freedom is not in doubt. To this end, courts have upheld the sanctity of contracts entered into by parties, except in cases where the parties contracted outside statute or where holding parties to their bargain would be unconscionable or result in unjust enrichment to one party at the expense of theother.