News & Resources

Our company has for years prided itself on regular board and shareholder meetings as the basis for the success of our business. Initially we stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic but have started meeting again using online meeting tools. With the pandemic continuing we are worried that we are not meeting the requirements of the Companies Act by not meeting in person. We have no other choice right now. Is it acceptable from a compliance perspective?

Covid-19 relief – does my race, gender, age or disability matter?I am a small business owner and I am hoping to apply for financial relief from the Covid-19 pandemic. Will my company’s B-BBEE status or factors such as race, gender and disability be considered when I apply for the relief?

A year or two ago I asked my sister to stand as surety for me so I could buy a house for my family. I had a good job and felt comfortable in asking her to do so. She agreed and signed a surety agreement with the bank. With Covid-19 I’ve now lost my job and despite getting payment holidays from the bank, I’m not sure I will be able to make my mortgage instalments. Where does this leave my sister? Will the bank now expect her to repay my outstanding mortgage loan?

I’ve seen a lot of reference in the media about new tax measures that Government wants to implement to cushion the blow of the Covid-19 pandemic. What are these and how can they benefit me and my business?

I understand that POPIA requires me to give consent for the use of my personal information and that a business cannot use my information without such permission. Although I am in favour of this approach, I was just wondering if I will now have to give consent every time or will I be asked to give consent once, but then it stays in place for ever? I don’t want to be bombarded with requests but at the same time I don’t want to be held to a consent I can hardly even remember giving. How is this going to work?

The COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown, as well as the continued restriction on many economic activities, has created severe financial pressure for many businesses, especially from a cash flow perspective. It is therefore vital for businesses to not only rearrange and amend their current contractual obligations, but also to enter into new contracts, in order to survive.

My business and prospects during the COVID-19 lockdown has all but died. My BEE consultant has however contacted me to remind me that it is time to renew my BEE certificate. Is it really worth doing so in this time?

Our business scheduled a launch function for a new product in April. A function venue was booked for the event. With the COVID-19 lockdown we cannot hold the function anymore and informed the venue that we want to cancel the contract. They however replied that they will accommodate us after the lockdown. We will probably still do the launch later, but don’t want to be bound to this venue as we may have to adapt the format of the function after the lockdown. The contract only provides for breach of contract. Can we cancel the contract for breach as the venue was unable to hold the function?

The year 2020, or 20plenty as it was commonly referred to when the new decade commenced, has over the last few months, primarily as a result of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, turned out to be an unprecedented time in our history. This is not only true for South Africans, but for all countries and people across the globe. Various negative effects are culminating from and being amplified this virus, not the least of which are medical and economic in nature. All indications are that the world is facing the deepest recession and most challenging health and economic crisis in last 100 years, which will affect everyone at some point and in some way or another.

I serve as a director on the boards of a number of private companies. Unfortunately, for health reasons I won’t be able to attend upcoming board meetings at some of the companies. Can I appoint a proxy to represent me and exercise my voting rights?

My business collects and stores quite a large amount of client data. We were recently nearly hacked and were lucky that no information was leaked. I’m concerned about another attack and worried what would happen if information was leaked. What can I do?

My business processes a large amount of personal information of clients. We have been anticipating the commencement of POPIA, but remain unsure as to when it will become operational. Can you give any feedback on the current status of POPIA?