News

Revenge Porn and a Fake Facebook Profile – Online Defamation Costs a Couple R3.55m

15th January 2025

Our laws are always protective of our rights to privacy and dignity, and a recent High Court decision confirms that defamation can be a very costly business for perpetrators. In serious cases such as those involving “revenge porn” (a term commonly used to describe “the publication of non-consensual intimate images, recordings or depictions”) offenders face…

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How Can I Buy Property in South Africa as a Foreigner?

15th January 2025
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Are you a visitor dreaming of waking up with giraffes on your lawn and wondering how to make it happen? Or a local being asked by overseas friends and relatives: “This country’s magic, how can I buy myself a property here?” We have all the answers… First up, can you even buy as a foreigner?…

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Directors: Here’s How to Avoid Being Sued for Company Debts

15th January 2025
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Perhaps you’re a director losing sleep over the risk of losing everything if creditors sue you personally for your company’s debts because you’re asset-rich, and they can’t squeeze anything out of the company. Or maybe you worry about the company itself suing you for losses it suffers because of something you have or haven’t done.…

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Divorce and the New Three-Pot System: Another Risk To Manage

12th September 2024
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How will the new “Three-Pot Retirement System” (often referred to as a “Two-Pot System”) affect financial arrangements on divorce? Retirement savings can amount to a significant portion of a marriage’s assets, so it’s important to understand the implications of the new system. First, a quick refresher  Have a look at our graphic below for a…

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Waiving the Bond Clause to Keep a Sale Alive: Risk Versus Reward

12th September 2024

A “bond clause” – standard in most property sale agreements – typically provides that the whole sale depends on the buyer obtaining a mortgage bond by a specified date. If the deadline comes and goes without a bond being granted, the sale lapses and the buyer is entitled to get their deposit back. Most agreements…

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When Can You Legally Record Conversations?

12th September 2024
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Your smartphone lets you record just about anything, anywhere, and at any time. Your laptop and other devices can automatically record online meetings. Technology enabling voice and/or video recording is all-pervasive, providing us all with a powerful tool for keeping accurate records, resolving disputes and gathering evidence. But it’s crucial to understand when it’s legal…

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Sibling Showdown: How One Missing Word in a Will Divided a Family

12th September 2024
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We’ve all seen how even the smallest mistake can have huge consequences down the line. A recent High Court spat between siblings over a poorly-drafted will confirms once again that when it comes to important documents (and it doesn’t get more important than your will!), every word counts. The joint will and the “30-day survivor”…

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The Pothole Plague – Claiming Damages

6th May 2024
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If you fall victim to a pothole-infested road, don’t hesitate to sue for your losses. A recent High Court victory for a motorist claiming R8.6m in damages confirms yet again that those charged with maintaining our roads can be made to pay for failing to do so. R8.6m claimed for a pothole crash A motorist…

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Rising Damp and Failed Waterproofing: How to Sue the Sellers

6th May 2024
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Consider this all-too-common scenario: You buy your dream house and happily move in. Only then do you discover that the house has major defects, which were never disclosed to you by the seller. You demand the seller pays the repair costs but the seller refuses. So off to court you go, claiming either damages or…

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In the Land of the Will, Clarity is King

6th May 2024
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When drawing up your will (“Last Will and Testament”), remember that “clarity is king”. Ambiguity is one of the cardinal sins of will-drawing because it exposes your loved ones to the risk of uncertainty, dispute, rancour, and quite possibly expensive litigation. Worse, if in the end, a court has to try and decipher what you…

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Budget 2024: Your Tax Tables and Tax Calculator

5th April 2024

How much will you be paying in income tax, petrol and sin taxes? The unchanged transfer duty and tax tables, with a note on fiscal drag   Unchanged from last year, so taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief that rates have not been increased as many forecasters had feared. But the other side of…

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When is Resignation a Constructive Dismissal?

5th April 2024

Perhaps you are an employer, and that troublesome employee who you’ve been hoping would resign does exactly that. Saving you, as you see it, from the risk, hassle, and expense of disciplinary or retrenchment proceedings. But are you really home and dry? Or perhaps you are an employee, driven to resign by your employer’s constant…

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Property Sales: “Conditional Acceptance” of an Offer is Not Acceptance, It’s Rejection

5th April 2024
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A good offer comes in for your property, so you accept it. But you’re not happy with a few of the terms, so before you sign you make a few changes to the offer. Maybe they are big changes, maybe they seem inconsequential. Either way, you are now effectively negotiating, not accepting the offer. You…

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Moonlighting Without Consent is Misconduct – A Firing Offence

25th January 2024
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Up to a quarter of all middle-class South Africans are reported to “moonlight”, that is to run a part-time side hustle or side business in addition to their full-time jobs. Some, it seems, go one step further and manage to hold down two full-time jobs simultaneously. No doubt the pandemic-accelerated increase in remote working has…

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Now Creditors Can Apply for Directors to be Declared Delinquent – Why is That Important?

25th January 2024
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A recent High Court decision means that, for the first time, creditors of debtor companies are specifically cleared to apply for the company’s directors to be declared “delinquent” in certain circumstances. And that has significant implications for both directors and creditors. For directors – major long-term career risks Company directors need to manage a whole…

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Estate Planning: Remember your Pets!

25th January 2024
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For many of us our pets are a central part of our lives, our much loved “fur babies”, our companions, exercise partners, even therapists through the hard times. But what will happen to them after we die? Or if we lose the ability to make the decisions necessary for their welfare? Unless you make specific…

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Can You Use Land Use Laws to Close Down a Neighbour’s Business?

25th January 2024
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Your neighbour’s business is driving you to distraction. Perhaps it’s loud all-night music, or an invasion of your hard-earned privacy, or illegal parking in your driveway, but regardless of what the nuisance factor is, it really is untenable. You’ve tried everything you can think of to sort it out amicably – polite requests, offers of…

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Selling Your House to a Non-Resident

6th December 2023
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South Africa is attractive to overseas property buyers with our world-class lifestyle, depreciated Rand, strong property registration and legal systems, and minimal restrictions against non-resident property ownership. Which is of course great news for property sellers in any area popular with foreign investors. Coastal and other tourist-friendly areas will appeal particularly to buyers wanting a…

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Buying a Used Car – Your Rights

6th December 2023

You buy a “pre-loved” vehicle which turns out to be a complete dud. You go back to the dealership which says “sorry, you bought it as is, not our problem”. What are your rights? Buying from a private seller When we discuss the CPA (Consumer Protection Act)’s consumer protections below, note that the CPA only…

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A Costly Case of Buyer’s Remorse

6th December 2023
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A recent High Court decision once again highlights the dangers of signing anything without reading, understanding and fully considering it. A “Renovator’s Dream” and a case of buyer’s remorse A couple viewed a house advertised as “a renovator’s dream” and they immediately decided to sign an offer to purchase for R550,000 (R20,000 under asking price).…

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How to Stop Someone Damaging Your Good Name on Social Media

19th September 2023

As our lives move increasingly online, more and more of us will be subjected to the distress and damage of online attacks. Whether they are aimed at hurting us personally or at harming our businesses, they can take a substantial toll both materially and psychologically. What can you do if you (or your business) falls…

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Divorce: What is Forfeiture of Benefits and When is it Ordered?

19th September 2023
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Divorce all too often involves high levels of stress, antagonism, dispute and desire for revenge. So, when it comes to splitting up the marital assets, the thoughts of one (or both) of them may well turn to something like “It’s their fault, I want more than just my share, in fact I want everything”. Which…

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Can Your Thumbs-Up Emoji or E-Signature Seal a Deal?

19th September 2023
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ECTA (the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act) means that you can in many cases create legally binding agreements purely electronically – via email, WhatsApp, social media and the like. There is of course both risk and opportunity here. On the one hand, the old hassles of printing everything out and signing reams and reams of…

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Your New House Leaks Like a Sieve – Can You Sue the Seller?

19th September 2023
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You move into your new dream home, excited and happy. Until it rains, and the roof leaks. As the repair teams tramp around on your roof and the bills start piling up whilst you weave around buckets and tarpaulins and sodden carpets, you go back to the seller and demand recompense. “Sorry”, says the seller,…

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Dual Citizens: Good News if You Lost Your South African Citizenship, But…

24th July 2023
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Note: Many South Africans who should be aware of this new development will be overseas and/or may not have heard of the Supreme Court of Appeal decision we discuss below. If you know of any such person, please consider forwarding this to them as soon as possible. Reportedly, thousands of South Africans have lost their…

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Don’t Give a Loan or Credit to Anyone (Not Even a Friend) Without Legal Advice!

24th July 2023

A recent High Court case highlights once again the dangers of lending money, or granting credit, in contravention of our credit laws. By understanding the pitfalls associated with being an unregistered credit provider and of not complying with the National Credit Act (NCA), you can protect yourself from the potential legal and financial risks. Close…

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Leaving Anything Important Out of Your Property Sale Agreement Will Sink It

24th July 2023

Ensure that all the important terms of your sale agreement are recorded in writing and signed. Leave out anything “material” and, as we shall see from the Supreme Court of Appeal case discussed below, your entire sale could well collapse. At the very least, you face significant legal consequences, delay and cost. The omitted term…

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Trustees: Your New Duty to Report Beneficial Owners

26th May 2023
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South Africa’s grey listing by the Financial Action Task Force, the global financial watchdog, has led government to hurriedly introduce new “Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing” measures to combat financial crimes. One of those measure is a new requirement for trustees to disclose all “beneficial owners” of trusts. In what was unfortunately no April…

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Losing Your Property to Acquisitive Prescription

26th May 2023

Here’s another warning to be vigilant when it comes to someone else occupying any part of your property for 30 years or more – you could wake up one day to find you’ve lost your ownership altogether. With not a cent’s purchase price to show for it. And whilst 30 years may seem like a…

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Overtime: The Importance of Agreements

26th May 2023

All employers and employees need to know of a recent Labour Court judgment holding that an instruction to work overtime in the absence of an agreement is unlawful. A lapsed overtime agreement makes dismissal unfair A company’s Site Manager instructed four employees to work overtime to meet production targets but they refused, citing safety issues…

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Can You Claim Damages After Hitting a Pothole?

9th March 2023

Pothole problems are by no means exclusive to South Africa, but we certainly do seem to have more than our fair share of them. As a recent High Court decision illustrates, if you suffer any form of loss as a result of a pothole, hold whoever is responsible to account. Sue for your damages! Injured…

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Installing Home Solar – How to Comply with the Regulatory Requirements

9th March 2023
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Eskom’s no-end-in-sight loadshedding, rising electricity costs, South Africa’s abundance of sunshine, and the global move to sustainable energy solutions have all contributed to the current boom in home solar photovoltaic (PV) roof installations. They don’t come cheap, but quite apart from the direct practical and financial benefits of going as much off-grid as possible, you…

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Effective 1 March 2023: New Earnings Threshold and National Minimum Wage

9th March 2023

Employers and employees need to keep an eye on the annual increases in both the National Minimum Wage and the Earnings Threshold, summarised below for your convenience. Both are effective from 1 March 2023. The National Minimum Wage increase The National Minimum Wage (NMW) for each “ordinary hour worked” has been increased by 9.6% from…

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