“Suretyship is the precursor of ruin” (Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece) As the philosopher and mathematician Thales pointed out two and a half millennia ago, signing surety for another’s debts carries huge risk. Yet every day directors of property holding companies happily sign personal suretyships for their company’s (usually…
You cannot lawfully use any surname in South Africa other than the one shown in the National Population Register (NPR), and trying to do so will land you in a lot of hassle and probably in legal trouble as well. So tread carefully when it comes to any event in your life involving a possible…
A recent Labour Court decision shows how dangerous it is as an employer, when attempting to dismiss an employee, not to draw a clear distinction between misconduct and incapacity. Disciplined for depression An employee, whose track record had originally been an excellent one, was charged at a disciplinary enquiry with four charges of misconduct…
Your debtor owes you a fortune, but when his estate is sequestrated there is nothing in his own name. However you find out that he is trustee of a wealthy family trust with lots of assets that you think are really his – can you recover from his trust? The answer is yes, you can,…
“The Greatest Wealth is Health” (Virgil, Roman poet) We lead increasingly hectic lives, and in the business world in particular we desperately need to find efficient and effective ways to maximise our health. Probably the best and easiest way of achieving that is to set up and follow a good, healthy daily routine. Routines…