South Africa: Contracts and Commercial Law

Mergers and acquisitions teams often overlook critical IT dependencies until late in the transaction process, creating significant post-completion risks.

The Constitutional Court's decision in Absa Bank Ltd v SARS marks a pivotal shift in how South African courts approach tax avoidance structures, moving beyond technical compliance to examine the true commercial substance of transactions. This judgment signals a broader regulatory trend where authorities increasingly look through carefully engineered corporate structures to ask what was really happening, challenging the long-held assumption that technical legal compliance provides immunity from scrutiny.

A recent judgment of the North West High Court, Mahikeng, has provided welcome clarity on an issue that does not often receive direct judicial attention.