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7
Jan

Property Developers Beware: Deemed Accruals Can Seriously Disrupt Your Cash Flow

“Never take your eyes off the cash flow because it’s the lifeblood of business” (Richard Branson) A recent Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment has confirmed that when a property developer enters into an agreement with a buyer to transfer the property, even if the developer only actually gets paid in a subsequent tax year, the income is deemed to

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28
Nov

Lending to a Friend or Selling Property on Credit – Must You Register as a Credit Provider?

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be For loan oft loses both itself and friend” (Shakespeare)   It seems logical that the very strong consumer protections in the NCA (National Credit Act) are designed for commercial situations in which credit is advanced by “credit provider” businesses to “credit consumers”. But does the NCA also apply to non-commercial, once-off loans? Like

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28
Nov

Reporting Crime and the Defamation Danger: Lessons from the Workplace

Believing someone to be guilty of a crime you call the police and have the suspect arrested, only to have the charges dropped. Can you be sued for defamation? A recent High Court case provides some answers.   A fraudulent iPad order, an arrest and a R1.6m claim A government employee was, at the instigation of officials in his department,

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28
Nov

Firearm Owners: What to Do if Your Licence Has Expired

“… this is a matter of national security and… something of the order of 450,000 gun owners with their expired licences form part of this equation… in a country riddled with crime…” (Extracts from judgment below) Possession of an unlicensed firearm is, for good reason, a serious offence carrying heavy penalties, and law abiding citizens will support the police in

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28
Nov

Websites of the Month: The Existential Dread of Gift Giving, and Science to the Rescue!

“Every holiday season, as we drive ourselves crazy at the mall or shopping online, soaked in the existential dread that comes from trying to find gifts our loved ones might appreciate, I think of the great writer and social critic James Baldwin, who wrote: ‘If the hope of giving/is to love the living,/the giver risks madness/in the act of giving’”

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30
Oct

Can I have pets in a residential complex?

“I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon, and a cat that comes home late at night” (Marie Corelli, English novelist) Residential complexes and estates are becoming more and more popular for

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30
Oct

Travelling Abroad? Know Local Laws or Risk Jail

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse” (old Roman law principle applied in many legal systems worldwide) Whether you travel abroad on business or on holiday, ignorance of local laws can easily land you in a situation where your protestations of “But I had no idea that that is illegal here, it’s totally legal in South Africa” are met with

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30
Oct

Your Website of the Month: 6 Ways for Your SME to Survive the Recession

No doubt we are in for at least a year or two of difficult economic conditions, but small businesses have one important advantage over larger competitors – their size keeps them agile. That means they can adapt more quickly to changing conditions, which in turn puts them in pole position to grasp the many opportunities that always accompany change and

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