Important Update: Government Gazette Notice No. 51369 - Renaming of South African Deeds Offices

Lutfiyya Kara, Senior Associate in the Real Estate Law practice discussed the Hardest part of a transaction

Lutfiyya Kara, Senior Associate in the Real Estate practice was featured in the DealMakers Women 2024 Issue where she discussed the Hardest part of a transaction .

The Promulgation of the Economic Regulation of Transport Act is a marked step towards rail reform and privatisation

On 11 June 2024, President Ramaphosa signed the Economic Regulation of Transport Act 6 of 2024 (Act) into law, marking a significant development in respect of economic regulation of transport and rail reform. However, the date of commencement of the Act is still to bedetermined. 

What’s in a name? The status of Tax Courts as courts of law

The South African legal system is host to a number of quasi-judicial decision-making bodies which, while having the power to make decisions which are authoritative and may be binding on parties and while conducting proceedings in a judicial manner, cannot be described as courts of law in the proper sense. The High Court in the case of Poulter v The Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (A88/2023) ZAWCHC had to determine whether the Tax Court was a court of law for the purposes of deciding whether a taxpayer could be represented by a layperson in the Tax Court. It should be noted that the Tax Court first considered the issue of a layperson’s right of appearance before it in 2016 (see our Tax and Exchange Control Alert of 9 September 2016), which we refer tobelow.  

Back to the future: The provision of future/contingent financial assistance in terms of section 44 of the Companies Act

In Constantia Insurance Company Limited v Master of the High Court, Johannesburg and Others JOL 56548 (SCA), the Supreme Court of Appeal provided some much-needed clarity in confirming that the forms of financial assistance provided in terms of section 45 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (Act) constitutes an exhaustivelist.  

I have a dream… But what are the tax implications?

Are you a big (big) dreamer like Vuyo? Do you wish to one day run your own billion-dollar empire? Usually, when new entrepreneurs are fueled by nothing but a dream (and maybe coffee) they rarely stop to consider the tax implications of their big (big)dreams.  

Companies to take heed of mounting climate change litigation risks, advises Alecia Pienaar, Counsel in our Environmental Law practice during a eNCA interview.