Leaving South Africa for foreign climes, whether permanently or for an extended period, probably means leaving behind unfinished business or financial affairs, and/or property or other assets needing to be dealt with.

And whilst it is certainly possible for you to sign documentation, contracts and the like whilst in another country, the inconvenience and costs likely to be associated with the necessary authentication procedures – to meet local requirements – are avoidable.

We discuss what a power of attorney (POA) is, the difference between a “special” power of attorney and a “general” one, what they involve, why and when you should consider signing one (or several), and how to structure each one to be valid and fit-for-purpose.

Lending money or advancing credit to another individual or business carries with it a certain amount of unavoidable risk. But you can minimise that risk by, for example, taking as much security as you possibly can over the debtor’s assets so as to ensure that if your debtor fails, and is liquidated/sequestrated, you move up from being last in line when it comes to dividend payouts, to getting first bite of the cherry from those assets subject to your security.

Our discussion on how to achieve that will focus on the two types of notarial bond available to you in relation to movable assets, namely “special” and “general” notarial bonds. We’ll see how they differ and how each should fit into your planning. Then with reference to a recent High Court decision, we’ll end off with a look at how you can convert the relative weakness of a general notarial bond into the strength of a “perfected” bond.

One can certainly understand that a mining operation, in complying with its legal obligation (shared by all employers) to provide a healthy and safe environment in the workplace, would take steps to require that employees wear suitable footwear while on duty. And it’s no surprise that a risk assessment carried out by the mine concluded with an instruction to all employees to wear only flat shoes at work.

But the employer’s dismissal of an employee for “gross insubordination” and “incitement”, after she was instructed to stop wearing high heels and vented her dissatisfaction to her colleagues, was overturned with a Labour Court order to retrospectively re-instate her.

We discuss the reasons for that outcome and share some valuable lessons for all employers flowing from the judgment.

“Strategy is the art of carefully selecting where a business applies its focus and resources in order to achieve its ultimate aim. A large part of the work is in selecting what not to do rather than what's to be added.”

Strategic planning is an essential part of optimising your business for success. Without it you will drift rudderless, unfocused and wasting effort and resources with no clear destination in mind.

Jon Cherry’s article “The Four Strategies” on his Cherryflava website lists four key areas to consider – in combination, they will help drive your business forward, inspiring all the work, and the people, that hold your “North Star” vision close.