Company law not tied to human rights - expert
The legislature had 'abdicated its responsibility' to bring company law into line with human rights, David Bilchitz, of the SA Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law, says.
Bilchitz was responding to a UCT-based company law specialist Tshepo Mongalo on clause 76(3)(b) of the Companies Bill, which deals with the duties of directors to act in the best interests of the company, says a Business Day report. As the power of the multinational companies has grown, what constitutes 'the best interests of the company' has become a vexed question. In recent years arguments have been made that companies should care about more than profits. Corporate law expert Professor Farouk Cassim said in an interview with Business Day that 'all directors would be well advised to take into account the Bill of Rights because it would reflect badly on the company if they did not'. But Bilchitz said the 'voluntary' approach disregarded the fact that companies, like every other legal structure, were now subject to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Bilchitz submitted to Parliament in August that a specific duty should be included for directors to realise fundamental rights in the Constitution to the extent they are required to. Full Business Day report