Companies Bill 2008 - Here Comes The Class Action!

Should it survive in its existing form, Section 157 of the

Companies Bill will bring the class action into mainstream

corporate and commercial activity in South Africa. To date the

class action has been a seldom-used procedure, restricted in

its application to matters involving actual or threatened

infringement of rights protected in the Bill of Rights.

Section 157 will change all of that when, in terms of the

Act, an application can be made to, or a matter can be brought

before, a court, the Companies' Ombud, the Take-over Panel

or the Commission, that right can be exercised by a person who

is:

directly contemplated in the particular provision of the

Act;

acting on behalf of such a person who cannot act in their

own name;

acting as a member of, or in the interest of, a group or

class of affected persons or an association acting in the

interests of its members; or

acting in the public interest, with leave of the

court.

The formulation follows the wording used in Section 38 of

the Constitution so that...