This week the Slovenian Government sent a new law - the first big anti-corona law package - the Intervention Measures to Mitigate the Effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) Infectious Disease Epidemic on Citizens and the Economy Act into the legislative procedure.

On 19 February 2019, the African Global Group of companies (better known by its trading name, Bosasa) reported that it intends applying for its voluntary liquidation.

It reported that this decision was taken by the board of directors of Bosasa after being notified by its bankers that the groups’ bank accounts would be closed, with effect from the 1st of March 2019.

This question arises frequently in practice. In October 2018 the Labour Appeal Court had occasion to consider the issue in the matter of South Africa Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) obo Members v JDG Trading (Pty) Ltd. JDG Trading is a large SA corporation that, like others in a filing local economy, found itself caught in the tough financial headwinds

Human resources practitioners are often called upon to advise and lead employee consultation in a business restructure. Sometimes, a legal review of the statutory consultation notice issued under section 189(3) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the LRA) is also undertaken.

It is trite that the purpose of business rescue proceedings is to rehabilitate companies that have fallen on hard times, with a hope of either rescuing them or to provide a better return to creditors than what they would receive on a liquidation. This was reiterated in the recent Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment of Van Staden and Others NNO v Pro-Wiz (Pty) Ltd (412/2018) [2019] ZASCA 7 (8 March 2019).

In many, if not all, commercial transactions, timing is everything, either for a distressed seller or a purchaser stumbling upon a deal that may almost be too good to be true. There is often no time to waste and a deal must be closed as soon as possible. In the haste of closing a deal, whether in the form of a sale of business or a sale of assets, the parties often agree not to comply with the provisions of s34(1) of the Insolvency Act, No 24 of 1936 (Act), each willing to take the risk in not doing so.

Section 34(1) of the Act provides that:

The legal principles relating to execution against movable property are more or less settled, less so the law relating to execution against immovable property. This is mainly because the right to housing is enshrined in s26 of the Constitution and the issue of land has become somewhat emotive and politicised in the recent past.

Section 154 of the Companies Act, No 71 of 2008 (Act) provides that a business rescue plan (BR plan) may provide that a creditor, who has acceded to the discharge of the whole or part of a debt owing to that creditor, will lose the right to enforce the debt or part of it. Furthermore, if a BR plan has been approved and implemented, a creditor is not entitled to enforce any debt owed by the company immediately before the beginning of the business rescue process, except to the extent provided for in the BR plan.

Somewhere close to Sandton – Africa’s richest square mile – lies the suburb of Parkmore in the Gauteng Province. This is the principal place of business of a debtor that cannot pay its debts, and is facing the barrel of an application for its winding-up. The debtor’s registered address is in Mbombela within the province of Mpumalanga – close to Africa’s Big Five game. Two court options come into play.

The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission reported that between 2011 and 2018, a total of 2 867 South African companies initiated business rescue proceedings in terms of Chapter 6 of the Companies Act, 2008 (the “Companies Act”), with South African Airways SOC Limited (“SAA”) being the latest addition to this list. The purpose of these proceedings is to provide distressed companies with a fresh start by creating the potential for them to be rescued, to avoid insolvency and to ultimately be wound-up.