With the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 27 grabbing global headlines, Business Law Focus Editor, Evan Pickworth, spoke to Mohamed Ghannam, Managing Partner of Baker McKenzie in Cairo; Oludare Senbore, Partner at Aluko & Oyebode in Nigeria and Kieran Whyte, Partner and Head of the Energy, Mining & Infrastructure Industry Group at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg about the efforts taken by the governments in their countries to address this urgent need to harness...

Should South Africa not meet the international standard and compliance rules on money laundering as set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it could be added to the FATF “greylist” as early as April next year. This could hit investment and businesses, but more importantly will certainly knock SA’s global reputation and standing. Business Law Focus host Evan Pickworth interviews Steven Powell, Era Gunning and Amelia Warren from ENSafrica about the risks and whether enough progress is...

Business Law Focus host, Evan Pickworth speaks to Francis Mayebe, Candidate Attorney and Virusha Subban, Partner and Head of Tax, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg about the power of SARS to search and seize your property without a warrant, and what the law says about this. We zone in on  a case that highlighted this issue and what businesses and individuals should know about the power of the South African Revenue Service to search and seize your property.

In this edition of Business Law Focus host Evan Pickworth interviews Andries Myburgh, Ntabaleng Sekabate and Mansoor Parker from ENSafrica just ahead of the mining indaba. They dig into key legal changes in the sector and where the gaps and opportunities lie.

In this edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth speaks to partners at Webber Wentzel, Sarah McKenzie and Maria Philippides about increasing public and regulatory scrutiny of the ESG claims being made by companies. Recent litigation is a salient lesson in risks posed by those who make misleading claims. There has been no direct or explicit greenwashing litigation in South Africa or ESG-related enforcement action by South African regulators, but South African legal and regulatory...

In the next edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth interviews Mansoor Parker, Executive in the tax practice at ENSafrica. The spotlight is on the implementation of corporate due diligence and accountability of undertakings with business activities in the EU – and notably what this means for SA companies. The new Directive is likely to have far-reaching implications.

Many South Africans are increasingly looking to move money into offshore pension funds and into offshore trusts. In this edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth speaks to international tax expert Dr Albertus Marais, founder of AJM, on the risks and severe penalties of not reporting payments to offshore trusts and how SARS sees the offshore pension contribution as taxable.

In this edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth interviews Michael Hewson, founder and director of Graphene Economics on the potential impact of the moves towards a global minimum tax. Since July 2021, 137 countries (accounting for more than 90% of the global economy) have signed a deal aimed at ensuring companies pay a global minimum tax rate of 15% and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), estimates this will generate $150 billion in additional global...

Business Law Focus host Evan Pickworth interviews Era Gunning and Ridwaan Boda, executives at ENSafrica, on why it is time for a data protection health check, especially by those corporates who have been complacent on compliance. With the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA’s) first anniversary having come and gone on 1 July, a question that many organisations are beginning to ask is: “Have we done enough to comply?”

In this edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickwoth interviews Lerisha (Lee) Naidu, who has been appointed as Managing Partner of Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg as of 1 July this year. With transformation of the legal sector high on the agenda, they discuss how gender gaps can be overcome in the profession.

In this edition of Business Law Focus host Evan Pickworth interviews ENS executives Andries Myburgh and Ntebaleng Sekabate on the opportunities and threats relating to mining exploration and specifically the urgent need for improved incentives to enhance investment. They speak at the conclusion of the recent Mining Indaba in Cape Town.

In the latest edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth interviews Johan Botes, Partner and Head of the Employment & Compensation Practice at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg on the new Code of Good Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Harassment in the Workplace. They discuss the key features of the new Code and also chat about why the new Code could be a timely slap in the face for bullies and sexual miscreants at work.

With South Africa's unemployment rate hitting record levels of over 35%, labour law reform is seen as a key avenue to help stimulate jobs and investment. This will, however, require political will and keener insights on the economic impact of policies. Host Evan Pickworth interviews Fritz Malan and Jan Norval from ENSafrica on the need for and progress on labour law reform in South Africa.

In this edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth interviews Michael Foundethakis, recently appointed Chair of the Africa Steering Committee at global law firm Baker McKenzie. Michael has a glass-half-full outlook for Africa, based on recent deal-making activity and success. While this positive outlook does not ignore the need for responsibility and bankability, Baker's prediction is that Africa could well be one of the only major regions to experience an acceleration of economic...

In this edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth interviews tax executive from ENSafrica, Mmangaliso Nzimande, on what lies ahead in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s inaugural national budget speech on 23 February. With the government set to walk a tightrope between reining in spending and generating revenue, all while a mountain of serviceable debt hangs like a sword of Damocles overhead, the road ahead is steep.

In this edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth interviews Cricket South Africa’s lead independent director, Steven Budlender SC. With the announcement of a disciplinary process against coach Mark Boucher leading to a veritable cacophony of commentary, Budlender SC explains the sound legal and governance rationale for the decision, including why Mr Boucher was not suspended. He also provides important updates on further steps and action CSA will be taking following the completion...

With vaccine rates remaining low in Africa and SA, the question of mandatory vaccines is high on the agenda early in 2022. In this edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth discusses the sticky question of enforcement, risk assessments and policy hurdles companies seeking a mandatory vaccine policy must overcome. He is joined by Johan Botes, Partner and Head of Employment & Compensation and Tracy van der Colff, Senior Associate, Employment & Compensation at Baker McKenzie to...

In the latest edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth interviews Executive in the Employment Law practice at ENS Africa, Dion Masher, on redefining employment for the gig economy.

In terms of the Statistical Release on liquidations and insolvencies published by Statistics South Africa in July 2021, there has been a 21.5% increase in the number of liquidations in the first seven months of 2021 compared to the first seven months of 2020. This has not deterred SARS from collecting outstanding tax debts from defaulting taxpayers. In this edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth speaks to Tax Executive at ENSafrica, Ntebaleng Sekabate, about the key tax...

Claiming and determining the veracity of VAT refunds is a perennial headache for both SARS and the taxpayer. In this edition of Business Law Focus, host Evan Pickworth, interviews tax manager at ENSafrica, Annelie Giles, on the extent of the problem and what can be done to fix it.

Business Law Focus Editor Evan Pickworth speaks to Ashlin Perumall, Partner in the Corporate/MA Practice at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg and fellow of the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR). The readiness (or lack thereof) for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) in Africa, a rising tide of crypto fraud, the development of digital currencies in Africa like central bank digital currencies and stablecoins and how laws and policies are slowly...

In this edition of Business Law Focus editor Evan Pickworth interviews Peter Dachs, tax executive at ENSafrica, on the new regime for global corporate taxes and efforts by SARS to improve its own collection capabilities, especially against tax dodgers.

In this episode of the Business Law Focus podcast, Editor Evan Pickworth interviews Janet MacKenzie and Darryl Bernstein, experts from global law firm Baker McKenzie, on the implications of the recently enacted Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Act. The criminalisation of harmful data messages and the intersection between this Act and the Protection of Personal Information Act is explored. The interview also discusses the weak levels of data privacy protection in Africa, with data privacy laws,...

With businesses and the economy caught in a whirlwind of strikes, protests, lock-outs and retrenchments - on top of trying to recover from Covid-19 losses - Business Day Law & Tax Editor Evan Pickworth interviews Audrey Johnson from ENSafrica’s employment department on what the future holds from a labour perspective.

Baker McKenzie’s latest report - New Dynamics: Shifting Patterns in Africa’s Infrastructure Funding - shows the state of the African infrastructure market, and how the major global players’ approach infrastructure lending on the continent is changing. The report’s data shows that multilateral and bilateral lending into Africa has declined - with investment levels falling successively in 2019 and 2020 compared to peak levels seen after the financial crisis. In 2019, bilateral and multilateral...