On 21 December 2018 the government published their Draft Expropriation Bill 2019 for comment by 21 February 2019. As the laws will affect all of us you should read it and consider commenting. The Bill only relates to registered rights and will therefore mainly affect land rights and mineral rights. The government has said that the law will not be enacted until after the constitutional amendment process is completed. The Bill is intended to give an…

The prescribed rate of interest has been changed with effect from 1 January 2019 to 10.25% per annum. The previous rate was 10%. According to the Prescribed Rate of Interest Act, interest on debts where no rate is prescribed is calculated at the repo rate plus 3.5%. The prescribed rate of interest applies to all debts unless a different rate is set by law, by trade custom or by agreement between the parties. The parties can…

Section 59 of the Customs and Excise Act 1964 provides that the seller of goods may recover the amount of duty paid on the goods in addition to the contract price ‘in the absence of agreement to the contrary’. The fact that the sale in Starways Trading v Pearl Island Trading was said to be ‘ex-warehouse’ was not a provision to the contrary. The effect of section 59 is to impose implied terms in relation to the…

In the context of a tax dispute the court held that the phrases ‘in terms of’ and ‘under’ a contract can have an ordinary or wide meaning of ‘by virtue of’ or ‘in consequence of’, or a narrow meaning requiring a direct and immediate connection between the contract and the money earned under the contract. It depends on the context. The context was whether the money earned from selling meals to patrons of a restaurant…

South Africa is a participatory democracy and where legislation is passed without facilitating public participation, especially by those members of the public most affected, the law is invalid. The Veterinary Association was successful in having the word ‘veterinarian’ severed from an amendment to the Medicine and Related Substances Act because of lack of consultation regarding a material amendment that would have adversely affected the entire profession. Parliament passed the Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Act,…

Litigation is pending if the court still has the power to hear it and dispose of it. The pending proceeding remains undecided or is awaiting a decision or settlement. This principle also applies to administrative tribunals. In Malebane v Dykema the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act 2013 included transitional provisions that ‘all applications, appeals or other matters pending before a tribunal’ had to be continued and disposed of under the previous provisions in…

On 22 November 2018, the European Investment Bank (EIB) published the fourth edition of its banking in Africa report. This latest report, Banking in Africa: Delivering on Financial Inclusion, Supporting Financial Stability, focuses on recent developments in Africa’s banking sectors and the policy options for all stakeholders, and includes the results of the EIB’s survey of banking groups operating in Africa. Three thematic chapters address the challenges and opportunities for financing investment in Africa:…