While the Department of  Trade and Industry seems to charge into legislation like a bull in a china shop (see previous articles on the National Credit Act, the Consumer Protection Act and the new Companies Act), the department of Justice seems to be adopting a more measured and consultative approach.
In March 2008 we pointed out that South African Law had proposed abolition of administration orders under Section 74 of the Magistrates Court Act, in light of the introduction of debt counselling  in terms of the National Credit Act. An administration …

On Friday, the 1st April 2011 we pointed out that the Consumer Protection Act had become law without the necessary regulations which was going to make it very difficult to know the full impact and operation of the Act.
It now appears on the same day the Minister of Trade and Industry published a notice changing the threshold  for “juristic persons”  who enjoy CPA protection from the R 3 million, that he had indicated in October 2010 would be the threshold, to R 2 million.
The Regulations are now also available for download.

The confusion and uncertainty that seems to surround most Department of Trade legislation these days continues. The new Companies Act that was so much of a dog’s breakfast in it’s original form that it required an amendment before implementation appears to have been delayed again. This because the amendment Bill to try correct all the grammatical and reference errors has not be signed by the President, who is currently out of the country.
The Amended Companies Act was meant to have come into operation at the end of September last year was delayed …

The much anticipated Supreme Court of Appeal  (SCA)judgment on the appeal from the so-called NCR Declaratory judgment has been delivered, in a judgment referred to as Nedbank v The National Credit Regulator (662/2009 & 500/2010) [2011] ZASCA 35 (28 March 2011).
In the original case the National Credit Regulator sort a declaratory order on various vague and contentious provisions of the National Credit Act, specifically regarding debt reviews but also relating to the charging of interest while a consumer is in default with the payment of a credit agreement.
Judge Du Plessis, …

The 1st April 2011 will see the implementation of the Consumer Protection Act which will, amongst other things, change the rights of consumers in contracts of sale.
For businesses this means the revising of standard terms and conditions of trade to ensure that they comply with the Act. The extent of the Act means it is not only those businesses that trade with private individuals who will be impacted but also those businesses trading with small businesses, since most of the provisions and protection of the Act have been extended to …

This article originally appeared on Bentley Attorneys website :
The new Companies Act is due to be introduced on the 1st April 2011, its introduction having been delayed because of the Act having had the dubious honour of being the first piece of legislation that the writer knows of that had to be amended after it had been passed but before it come into operation.
The reality is that we have to practically deal with piece of law and the 1st April 2011 is not an April fool’s day joke but has …

An article that originally appeared on the  Bentley Credit Control website:
In a previous article we pointed creditors to the potential problems with not knowing who you are doing business with.
Let’s say a debtor advises you that their business is Bob’s Suppliers.
It could be:

Bob’s Suppliers C.C. (a close corporation)
Bob’s Suppliers (Pty) Ltd (a private company)
Bob’s Suppliers Ltd (a public company)
Bob Naidoo trading as Bob’s Suppliers (a sole proprietor)
Bob Naidoo and Dan Jones trading as Bob’s Suppliers (partnership)
Bob Naidoo Investment Trust trading as Bob’s Suppliers (a trading trust

If this wasn’t bad enough, …

There is a new Supreme Court of Appeal  judgment,  Rossouw and Another v First Rand Bank Ltd t/a FNB Homeloans (Formerly First Rand Bank of South Africa Ltd) (640/2009) [2010] ZASCA 130 which puts to rest the conflicting judgments about what constitutes proper delivery of a notice under section 129(1).  Two differing views were previously given, the problematic one – from a credit provider’s perspective – being that delivery would only properly be effected once the notice actually came to the attention of the consumer (for example in First Rand …

Emoluments attachment orders, commonly referred to as garnishee orders, are governed by Section 65J of Magistrates Court Act 32 of 1944.
The provisions of Section 65J define an emoluments attachment order as – an order issued by the court which entitles a judgment creditor to attach the emoluments which are at present or in future owing to the judgment debtor by the garnishee (the employer).

What this essentially means is that the employee is in effect replaced by his employer who now becomes obliged to pay to the judgment creditor a …

Both the Companies Act and the Close Corporation Act have provisions in them allowing CIPRO to deregister corporate entities that have not lodged annual returns with the Registrar (Section 73 of the Companies Act and Section 26 of the Close Corporations Act).
CIPRO earlier in the year started to invoke the provisions of these Sections and hundreds of thousands of corporate entities were reclassified with the status “deregistration in progress”, for not having lodged the relevant returns.
In the last couple of days, what was thought to be a CIPRO threat for …