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Articles

International Child Abduction
Registration of a child’s birth: Unmarried fathers no longer treated differently from married fathers
Registration of a child’s birth: Unmarried fathers no longer treated differently from married fathers

On 22 September 2021, the Constitutional Court handed down a judgment in the case of  Centre for Child Law v Director General: Department of Home Affairs and Others [2021] ZACC 31 ; the judgment found section 10 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992 (the "Act"), to be invalid in its entirety, and consequently severed it from the Act, along with the wording in section 9(2) which subjected that provision to section 10.

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULES THAT MARRIAGES OF BLACK WOMEN MARRIED IN TERMS OF SECTION 22(6) OF THE BLACK ADMINISTRATION ACT 38 OF 1927 ARE AUTOMATICALLY IN COMMUNITY OF PROPERTY

Historically marriages of black people were regulated exclusively by the Black Administration Act, 38 of 1927 (“BAA”). In terms of section 22(6) of the BAA, the default position for black couples was that their marriages were automatically out of community of property. This section was repealed by the Marriage and Matrimonial Property Law Amendment Act, 3 of 1998 (“Amendment Act”),  which deleted section 22(6) of the BAA and inserted of section 21(2)(a) and 25(3) into the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984 (“MPA”) which provided black couples that were married under section 22(6) of the BAA with an “opportunity” to change their matrimonial property regimes within two years after the commencement of the MPA, from 2 December 1988.

Knowing where to shop?
Directors beware! The court declares Dudu Myeni (former SAA Chair) a Delinquent Director

It is a common principle within South African company law that a company is managed by its board of directors (“ Board ”). The Board bears the responsibility for the functioning and management of the company and is ultimately accountable for the performance thereof. However, the Board’s collective responsibility does not exclude the individual responsibility and liability of each of the directors. Where the company performs poorly due to the dishonesty, recklessness or gross negligence of the Board, the individual directors may be held jointly and severally liable for breaching their fiduciary duties as contemplated in the Companies Act, 2008 (“ Companies Act ”), and for those individuals who are directors of State Owned Entities (“ SOEs ”), the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (“ PFMA ”).