Pro Bono and Human Rights Practice Annual Newsletter

Understatement penalties and the benefit of tax opinions: A review of the Thistle Trust saga

We previously reported on the judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in the case of CSARS v The Thistle Trust (516/2021) ZASCA 153 (7 November 2022) in our Tax alert of 24 November 2022. We also specifically focused on the issue of understatement penalties that arose in that case in our Tax alert of 1 December 2022.

Women vs business recovery – a legal guide for female entrepreneurs

Lucinde Rhoodie, Director in the Dispute Resolution practice joined Refiloe Motsei New and Vee Mthembu on Jozi FM to discuss Women vs business recovery – a legal guide for female entrepreneurs.

JILB - Women and Juniors in Law & Banking - Business Rescue Seminar

The Department of Employment and Labour clamps down on employment of illegal foreigners: What employers should know

The Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) has recently stepped up its inspection raids, which has attracted significant media attention, mostly prominently in the hospitalityindustry. 

Surviving the impact of the electricity crisis on food production

Persistent loadshedding continues to pose a significant threat to South Africa’s food supply chain and agricultural production. Unforeseen power cuts affect irrigation schedules, heating, fruit and wine processing, milling, bakeries, abattoirs, cold chain logistic and exports. Extreme bouts of rotational power cuts and sporadic changes to the loadshedding stages, have in certain instances resulted in farms and processors having to discard their produce, with farmers reporting losses of between 30% to 50%. The frustration within the agricultural sector is driving farmers and agri-processors to find new solutions to mitigate their losses and manage theirrisk. 

What would the “reasonable employer” do?

On 8 July 2024 the High Court of South Africa, Free State Division, Bloemfontein delivered judgment in the decade-long case of Louw v Fourie NO and Another (3074/2016) ZAFSHC137.  The matter involved Tilana Alida Louw, a theatre manager at Netcare Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein who was pursuing a claim for damages under the actio iniuriarum in the amount of R627,000 (with interest and costs) against Dr S P Grobler, the first defendant, and Netcare Universitas Hospital, the second defendant. Grobler had conducted a private practice at Netcare and had performed surgeries at the hospital’s surgical theatres, making use of its staff