Legal Articles and Guides

Steinhoff has given its creditors less than a week to agree to a three-year debt standstill that would give its board and management room to correct and restructure the business without the constant threat of liquidation proceedings. According to a Business Day report, Steinhoff implied that if sufficient creditor support is not obtained by 16 July, its key European operations could be faced with liquidation proceedings.

Vaping activists say the latest tobacco Bill is ignorant and not based on scientific evidence. The vaping industry has said it wants to be seen as a partner in SA’s health agenda because it is less harmful than smoking. According to a Saturday Star report, the Africa Harm Reduction Alliance’s (AHRA’s) Dr Delon Human noted the government wants to treat e-cigarettes in the same way that tobacco products are treated, falsely conflating vaping with smoking tobacco and, equally falsely, attributing the rise in the vaping industry to tobacco companies.

The BEE partners in a subsidiary of Tubular Technical Construction (TTC) have applied for provisional liquidation of the company after it failed to honour an agreement to pay R24m in outstanding dividends. TTC had paid R11m out of an agreed R35m, but had fallen into arrears to the tune of R8.45m, according to papers filed in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), notes a Moneyweb report.

An out-of-court agreement has been reached between 'Please Call Me' inventor Nkosana Makate and Vodacom, after the cell giant went to court to apply for a gag order against him, prohibiting the dissemination of any information regarding settlement negotiations between them.

A minority shareholder in the erstwhile KWV has succeeded in getting a court order for the valuation of shares in what is described as a ground-breaking judgment. According to a Beeld report, investor Albie Cilliers is the first known minority shareholder to successfully use section 164 of the Companies Act to exercise valuation rights.

Dutch Investors’ Association VEB has issued summons against Deloitte for breach of obligations when it audited Steinhoff Holdings, notes a Business Day report. VEB said it had summoned Deloitte to appear before the District Court of Rotterdam in relation to the losses suffered by the Steinhoff shareholders.

An ownership dispute over a multimillion-rand tourist lodge in Mpumalanga has gone to the SCA after a couple demanded decent accommodation for black staff and for a black manager to be paid as much as a junior, white administrator. A City Press report says Sibusiso and Ntombizodwa Tshabalala’s stake in Bundu Lodge is before the SCA after the former owner unsuccessfully applied to the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) to have the deal cancelled.

Transnet squandered billions of rands and broke a raft of regulations when it altered the terms of a deal to buy 1 064 new locomotives, an investigation by law firm Werksmans Attorneys has found, according to a Bloomberg report on the BusinessLIVE site.

Vodacom will spend R1.1bn on an employee share ownership scheme as part of its R17.5bn broad-based BEE deal – the biggest BEE deal in the telecommunications sector. A Business Day report says the scheme will benefit 4 637 permanent employees in SA.

A little-known music promoter was awarded a R2.4bn, three-year deal to supply SA Express with fuel – at R67m a month – despite the troubled airline already having a contract to receive jet fuel from SAA.

The former shareholders of Tekkie Town have launched another legal claim against Steinhoff International Holdings to recognise the terms of a conditional so-called ‘earn out’ bonus that would be paid in 2020 and which could amount to as much as R1bn, notes a Moneyweb report.

Businessman Mzwanele Manyi wants the SABC to pay him R144m ‘owed’ to the Gupta family for the business breakfast shows. Manyi acquired ANN7 and The New Age from the Guptas last year for R450m by way of vendor financing.

Energy experts, residents and activists have opposed the National Energy Regulator of SA’s (Nersa’s) new draft rules for registration of Small-Scale Embedded Generation, calling it ‘a money-making scheme’. A Cape Times report notes Nersa published a consultation paper for people to write their views and opinions about the new draft rules, which will require residents who own solar panels and generators to register and pay licence fees.

Steinhoff International Holdings said acting CEO Danie van der Merwe repaid a R26.4m loan backed by company shares that he took a week before the retailer’s stock collapsed, says a Moneyweb report. It claims the timing of the loan raises questions about how much he knew about the financial malpractice that has brought the company to the brink of collapse.

Veteran businessman Christo Wiese’s Titan Group has instituted a R59bn claim against the Steinhoff group, citing cash investments made between 2015 and 2016. A Business Day report, quoting a Wiese statement, says the companies are claiming cancellation of an agreement entered into with Steinhoff International Holdings in 2015, ‘whereby the Titan Group subscribed for shares in Steinhoff following the acquisition of Pepkor Ltd from the shareholders of Pepkor’.