Financially Stressed Homeowners to Engage Banks Before Forced Foreclosures
Between April and June last year, 1.6 million South Africans applied for mortgage payment holidays from their banks. While this provided some form of temporary relief, it is now costing them, on average, an additional R12 900 a month due to having to pay up on interest accrued, pushing many South Africans further into […]
Business Rescue Increases Amongst SMEs and Corporates
CNA is the latest in a string of high profile brands that have gone, or are considering going into business rescue, following in the footsteps of Ster Kinekor, Edcon, Comair and SAA. Business rescue is also on the increase in the SME sector, as many suffer from financial distress. […]
Small Business Owners: Working Remotely & Employee Vaccine Rights
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have had to deal with a litany of issues since the pandemic began. Many were forced to close shop for a period of time, had to put their staff on short time or retrench and even needed to restructure their entire […]
Insolvency & Restructure in the Post-Pandemic World: The Role of Liquidation & Business Rescue
Introduction The COVID-19 global pandemic and the various national lockdowns that have been imposed in South Africa as a result will undoubtedly cast a long shadow over this country’s economy. Predictions of economic hardship as a result of recession, reduced productivity and increased unemployment can still be found in almost every major news publication. In […]
COVID-19 and Tax Residence
The pandemic has affected us all in numerous ways. Even National Treasury and SARS have made some concessions, particularly regarding provisional tax estimates. One area they haven’t addressed is the physical presence test in the definition of “resident” in the Income Tax Act. A natural person may qualify as a tax resident in two ways: […]
Alternatives to Retrenchment
During stages 5 and 4 of the national lock down, when businesses not involved in providing essential services were prohibited from operating, the oft quoted “No work no pay” principle applied by operation of law. In essence, the government-imposed prohibition on business operations created a supervening impossibility of performance for both employer and employee resulting […]
No Ducking and Diving – Stick to the Rules of Insolvency
The COVID crisis has had an overwhelming impact on local business with corporate South Africa struggling to keep its head above water and the wolves at bay. With no clear indication as to how the lockdown process will further impact businesses in the coming months, an understanding of the law of insolvency can provide much […]
Business Rescue, Liquidation or Survival – Time to Make the Call?
Big corporation or small enterprise – no business is immune to the current financial disaster 2020 has chauffeured in. We’ve seen the business rescue troubles of SAA unravel before our locked-down eyes, EDCON and Comair sending up an SOS flare and reports of indeterminable businesses (small and large) staring down the barrel of the COVID-19 […]
Updating ‘Business Continuity Plans’ for Financial Services
Navigating the multitude of regulations and Ministerial pronouncements in South Africa due to the emergency situation of Covid-19 has proven challenging as t…
Retrenchments and Selection Criteria: Some Considerations
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our economy has been and seems likely to continue to be extremely severe, and many businesses face an uncertain future…