PUBLICATIONS
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VDMA Law Publications
THE COMMERCIAL COURT – WHEN AND HOW TO MAKE USE OF IT
On 3 October of 2018 a commercial court practice directive was published by the judge president of the Gauteng divisions of the high court of South Africa (“High Court”) which created a commercial court as part of the High Court (“Directive”) The commercial court is...
POSTING PICTURES WITHOUT CONSENT – WILL IT LAND YOU IN TROUBLE?
Introduction On the 13th July 2021 the Information Regulator of South Africa (the “Regulator”) released a media statement warning the public against the processing of personal information of data subjects without their consent. This came about as photographs of former...
WAIVER OF A RIGHT OR OBLIGATION IMPOSED BY THE TERMS OF A CONTRACT
Background: One often reads a clause along the following lines in agreements: “The suspensive condition is inserted for the sole benefit of Party 1 and may therefore only be waived by Party 1 in writing.” What does it mean when such a clause is included in a contract?...
SHAREHOLDING STRUCTURES: THE UTILISATION OF DIFFERENT CLASSES OF ORDINARY SHARES
R Jooste and J Yeats in the second edition of Contemporary Company Law states that a company has “almost unlimited freedom to create the capital structure it desires and in so doing to structure the rights of each of its various classes of shares in an almost infinite...
PRIVATE COMPANIES AND SOCIAL AND ETHICS COMMITTEES
Background: The Companies Act No. 71 of 2008 requires every state-owned company, every listed public company and any other company with a public interest score which exceeds 500 points in any 2 of the previous 5 years (“Threshold”), to appoint a social and ethics...
THE CYBERCRIMES ACT – WHAT IMPLICATIONS WILL IT HAVE?
The Cybercrimes Bill was signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 26 May 2021. The Bill is now an act of Parliament, being the Cybercrimes Act No 19 of 2020 (“Cybercrimes Act”), and will come into effect on a date to be proclaimed in the Government Gazette. The...
POPI: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT INFORMATION OFFICERS
The coming into effect, on 1 July 2021, of the Protection of Personal Information Act No 4 of 2013 (the “POPI Act”) has caused widespread anxiety amongst businesses who have made little to no progress on becoming compliant with the provisions of the POPI Act. One of...
UPDATED: THE “INS” AND “OUTS” OF RESTRAINT OF TRADE PROVISIONS
A question on the mind of many professionals the past year has been whether or not the restraint of trade provision contained in their employment contracts will be valid and enforceable during the Covid-19 pandemic. As previously published by VDMA, the validity of...
ANTICIPATORY BREACHES OF CONTRACT – THE NATURE AND EFFECT OF REPUDIATION AND PREVENTION OF PERFORMANCE AND REMEDIES THERETO
Background: It is commonly known that breaches of contract can occur on or after the date on which performance is due in the form of mora debitoris (a debtor’s failure to perform timeously), mora creditoris (a creditor’s failure perform timeously) or positive...
CLAUSES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THIRD PARTIES – STIPULATIO ALTERI
Background: Agreements often include clauses which provide benefits in favour of third parties and in some cases impose obligations on parties who are not signatories to the agreements in question. These clauses are commonly referred to as stipulatio alteri. This...
SHEDDING LIGHT ON THE WHATSAPP CONTROVERSY
Most people have heard about the WhatsApp controversy regarding its new privacy policy. According to social media posts that circulated at the beginning of 2021, a new revised WhatsApp privacy policy was going to enable WhatsApp to access all of your private data...
THE PROS AND CONS OF A TERMINATION FOR CONVENIENCE CLAUSE IN A CONTRACT
Background: When entering into a contract it is important to consider how the parties can go about terminating such contract. It is commonly known that a contract can provide for termination in the event of a breach. It is also possible however, to provide for...