MEDIA RELEASE:

DATE  8 APRIL 2022

TO: ALL JOURNALISTS AND EDITORS

Legal experts believe that the Companies Tribunal (the Tribunal) can relieve high court rolls on company matters affecting businesses and help prevent job losses. “The Companies Tribunal should be the first place where companies should go to tackle their corporate disputes,” said Prof Elizabeth Snyman Van De Venter.

During the seminar, some attendees were of the view that the Tribunal should be facilitating business rescue processes, declaring a company director a delinquent and protecting employees owed by companies. These are matters that are currently out of the jurisdiction of the Tribunal but that may possibly be assigned to the Tribunal in terms of Schedule 4 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 (the Act).

The seminar was organised by the Tribunal in partnership with the University of Free State discussed opportunities for the Tribunal to expand it’s jurisdiction within the ambit of the Act. The partners recently held the engagement where stakeholders, academics, entrepreneurs and legal minds exchanged ideas on how best businesses can take advantage of the Tribunal’s mandate.

The seminar is part of the Tribunal’s drive to educate and help business practitioners to understand services available to them and how they could be assisted on company disputes. The Tribunal’s services are rendered free of charge.

As part of the awareness campaign to reach its supposed beneficiaries, the Tribunal continues engaging experts and teams up with institutions of higher learning to advance its mandate. The Tribunal has previously teamed up with the following universities, namely: University of Pretoria, University of Cape Town as well as the University of the Witwatersrand.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a very important process that can speedily resolve business disputes and shorten the often lengthy and expensive court battles.

Dr Mohammed Ali Chicktay Chairperson of the Companies Tribunal said the Tribunal will continue to partner with institutions of higher learning to enable the parties to benefit from the services of the Tribunal. He said the “aspect of resolving the disputes amicably is important because it gives self-ownership to the parties within the disputes.”

Ms. Khatija Tootla, a legal coach said there is room for the Tribunal to actively lead the business rescue process and adjudicate on “business rescue”. #ends

For Media Enquiries:

Mr. Simukele Khoza

Manager: Communications and Marketing

Tel: 012 394 1800 | Cell: 072 251 7265

Email: Skhoza@companiestribunal.org.za

Issued by: Companies Tribunal and UFS’s Mercantile Law Department