Africa has been very slow in effectively implementing regional integration and trade agreements and has made little progress to achieve its stated objectives, especially the goal of eradicating poverty and promoting development. In addition, the economic integration model currently being pursued in Africa suffers from several challenges and has not achieved its goals, because of among other things, weak legal and institutional frameworks, and lack of support from ordinary African citizens and the private sector. In light of the above, this research investigate the appropriateness of this model. This research begins with the theoretical discussions of integration and identifies the existing gaps within the African regional integration process. This reveals that there are not only foundational and definitional disparities within the African regional integration process but also that Africa lacks the necessary prerequisite for any successful regional integration. In particular, this research reveals that the institutions that are mandated to accelerate regional integration process lack the necessary capacity to achieve regional integration process. The discussions of theories behind regional economic integration reveals that the understanding of regional integration in Africa are rooted in the economic understanding of regionalism with insufficient attention given to the importance of strong institutional and legal frameworks and a human centred development. Importantly, these discussions reveal that the European integration economic model that was a success in European Community has been adopted in Africa without reviewing its appropriateness for the continent. The debates of the history of African regional integration in Africa demonstrate that regional integration process is not a new phenomenon in Africa and that African leaders have always embraced integration and have perceived it as a way of addressing Africa’s social and economic challenges. Importantly, the discussions of the history demonstrate the role African leaders played in fighting colonialism and dismantling the apartheid system in South Africa. Unfortunately, these discussions also show that after independence Africa was a continent faced with many challenges. In particular, history shows that after independence African leaders gave little support to Pan Africanism which had been driving force behind decolonisation and became oppressive and in many instances, committed human rights violations against their own people. This state of affairs has led to economic development being sacrificed. The discussions of the benefits of economic integration shows that while there are benefits linked to economic integration such as the reduction of poverty and development in countries such as China, India and Thailand, for Africa is unable to deal with the challenge of poverty and underdevelopment . African countries continue to witness increasing levels of poverty and poor development while few businesses and political elites remain the main beneficiaries of the economic integration model. The analyses of the institutional and legal structures reveal that the institutions mandated with regional integration and the laws governing regional integration process are either weak or nonexistence. This is demonstrated by the slow implementation of regional projects. Even though Africa has made significant steps to facilitate its regional integration, it has been unable to deal with the challenges confronting the continent, especially the rising levels of poverty and underdevelopment. While this this research supports and approves the steps that have been adopted to facilitate regional integration and trade, nevertheless this research observes that institutions that are mandated to drive regional integration have been unable to promote African regional integration. Africa lacks the necessary infrastructure and human capacity to achieve regional integration. The research question therefore is whether the economic integration model currently being pursued in Africa under its existing framework is the appropriate model for African regional integration since it is not supported by a proper legal system and the African people and does not directly address the issues that confront ordinary African citizens? While the author observes that Africa has considerably improved its trade and strengthened its integration process, the author nevertheless concludes that the economic integration model currently being pursued in Africa is unlikely to succeed, because it does not take into account African realities and lacks the necessary prerequisites for successful economic integration.

Includes bibliographical references. / The triangular merger structures provide an innovative and effective method for avoiding the voting and concomitant appraisal rights of a holding company’s shareholders. This is because, by incorporating and making use of a wholly owned subsidiary company to effect the proposed transaction, the holding company is deemed not to be a party to the amalgamation or merger agreement; even though the transaction is instigated and financed by it. Importantly, and as a result of the fact that the holding company is able to distance itself from the transaction, its shareholders are deprived of their voting and appraisal rights, thereby allowing said company to effectively avoid the usual cash drain resulting from the exercise of shareholder appraisal rights. It is argued that companies must not be allowed to make use of and exploit the separate legal personality of a shell subsidiary company solely to circumvent the rights of their shareholders. Failing specific legislative intervention to curtail this potential abuse, shareholders of the holding company ought to be able to successfully challenge the implementation of a triangular merger by (i) applying to court in terms of s 20(9) of the Act (the theory behind this being that the triangular merger structures propose the use of a separate legal entity as a device or stratagem to defeat their rights); and/or (ii) filing a complaint with the relevant statutory body citing the provisions of s 115(4) of the Act. In either case, and as an alternative submission, shareholders can also argue that such conduct falls within the parameters of the statutory oppression remedy.

A set method of determination of the fair value of shares is omitted from s164 of the South African Companies Act 71 of 2008 (the South African Act), which deals with the appraisal remedies of dissenting shareholders. This dissertation will consider how courts in the United Kingdom and the United States have dealt with the question of what is fair value in the context of oppression remedies and appraisal rights

For over a period of over sixty years, South Africa has applied the provisions of the MSA enacted in 1951 to matters relating to shipowner’s right to limit liability. Since then, Parliament has made several attempts at amending the MSA with no success. However, determining whether South Africa should implement the proposed amendments in terms of the MSA Draft Bill, is an inquiry that should not only include a comparison of the old order with the newly proposed order, but, it should also require reasons as to why the reform should be achieved in a particular manner. This is important because knowing what the discrepancies of the current dispensation are, will enable us to evaluate whether the newly proposed amendments will address them.

Cryptocurrency - and indeed the underlying blockchain technology in general - have the potential to become a dominant method of effecting the transfer of value in a manner that fundamentally shifts the way in which electronic transactions take place. South Africa is a strong emerging market with the potential to attract substantial investment in new technologies should its regulatory response to such innovation remain principled. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the most appropriate classification of cryptocurrency in South African law. The research is qualitative in nature. It considers selected aspects of the existing legislative framework and scholarly opinion in determining whether cryptocurrency is best classified as property or as currency. The necessary corollary of this research focus is to consider the fundamental importance of such a classification for legal policy design generally, and the practical effects thereof. This dissertation hypothesises that the value of the blockchain technology lies in its commercial viability and its potential scalability, particularly in the African context. Thus, the required objective of regulatory intervention should be to preserve the commercial viability of cryptocurrency and avoid stifling technological advancement, whilst simultaneously ensuring the protection of vulnerable users. The conclusion is that cryptocurrency is best classified as foreign currency. This dissertation acknowledges that although it is possible to fit such a classification into existing legislative frameworks, a more specialised structure is ultimately required. Additionally, it raises concern about the harm caused by reactive regulatory intervention and instead recommends a principled policy approach, cognisant of the need for maturation of the technology.

Includes bibliographical references.

The objective of this thesis is to research to what extent do the duties and powers conferred to the business rescue practitioner conflict with that of the directors during the business rescue proceedings since both of them form part of the management of the financially distressed company. In so doing, an analysis of the South African statutory provisions will be undertaken, followed by a probe into how those provisions can lead to the probable conflicts to be encountered between management and the practitioner, which can in turn considerably affect the effectiveness and success of the corporate reorganisation. In order to be able to find solutions to reduce possible conflicts, a juxtaposed analysis will be made with similarly statutory provisions in Australia, United Kingdom and United States of America.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 297-330). / This doctoral thesis deals with freedom of association and trade unionism in South Africa. Freedom of association is one of the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in a number of legal instruments both at the international and municipal levels. Progress and democracy require respect for human rights, including the right to freedom of association at the workplace. Trade unionism is the expression of this right. The development of trade unionism in South Africa is closely related to that of freedom of association and was instrumental to the demise of apartheid. This work provides a theoretical, historical and legal background to freedom of association and trade unionism, both from a comparative and international law perspective. It then investigates the legal and jurisprudential protection of freedom of association and trade unionism under apartheid before dealing with their protection under the post-apartheid legal order. The thesis argues that international law in general and international labour law in particular contributed a lot to the development of freedom of association and trade unionism in South Africa. It concludes that South Africa has gone a long way in protecting freedom of association at the workplace and trade unions played a critical role in the consolidation of democracy in the country. The prospects for the protection of freedom of association and trade unions are good. However, there are also a number of challenges, political, social, economic, and intellectual. These challenges need to be overcome to consolidate democracy and a culture of human rights. The thesis ends with some recommendations for further research to ensure the best protection of freedom of association and trade unions in South Africa and the rest of our continent.

General average emerged as an independent mechanism in ancient times for the redistribution of losses incurred for the safety of the common maritime adventure from peril. Its robustness and efficiency as a risk and loss distribution device led to its recognition and incorporation in a plethora of medieval codes and the laws of many maritime states. As the concept evolved in different maritime states there emerged a divergence in the principles and practice of general average. The undesirability of a divergence in such a concept of international import led to the adoption of the York-Antwerp Rules by the maritime community as a tool for achieving uniformity. The York-Antwerp Rules have been amended periodically over the course of more than a century with the object of achieving greater uniformity in the law of general average and to keep abreast of developments in international trade and the maritime industry. The most recent revision of the York-Antwerp Rules adopted in 2004 (York-Antwerp Rules 2004), is the first revision adopted without a consensus amongst the majority of interested parties. Nine years after their adoption, the York-Antwerp Rules 2004 have failed to gain widespread acceptance and use in the maritime industry. An attempt by the Comité Maritime International to resolve the impasse on the use of the Rules at its 2012 Beijing Conference was unsuccessful and it was resolved instead to work towards the adoption of a new set of Rules at its next Conference in 2016. To ensure that the revision of the York-Antwerp Rules presented for acceptance at the 2016 Conference does not suffer the fate of the York-Antwerp Rules 2004 it is important that the mistakes made with regard to the York-Antwerp Rules 2004 are not repeated. Consequently, this thesis analyses the substantive revisions made in the York-Antwerp Rules 2004 to ascertain why other interested parties, particularly shipowning interests, are opposed to the York-Antwerp Rules 2004. This will assist in the recommendations to be made with regard to the substantive changes to the York-Antwerp Rules 2004 that could ensure the widespread acceptance of the Rules to be adopted in 2016. Furthermore, the factors that led to the periodic revision of the Rules are examined and the ingredients of the previous successful revision processes are identified as a comparative base to ascertain the flaws, if any, in the process that led to the adoption of the York-Antwerp Rules 2004; which culminated in the lack of widespread acceptance of the Rules in the maritime industry. This thesis contends, among other things, that the York-Antwerp Rules 2004 failed to gain widespread acceptance in the maritime industry because the substantive changes introduced by the Rules did not ensure a measure of equitable balance of the interests of all interested parties. Furthermore, the ingredients of the previous successful revision processes were disregarded in the process of adopting the 2004 Rules. This thesis makes recommendations on the content of the York-Antwerp Rules to be adopted in 2016 and the process of adopting the new Rules in an attempt to enhance their widespread acceptance and use in the maritime industry.

The aim of this dissertation is to recommend an alternative approach to the fraud exception in South African law. The Current South African position as with the English law, places more weight on upholding the sanctity of the autonomy principle in letters of credit than preventing fraud. This is mainly because the courts have traditionally taken the view that protection of the autonomy principle is central to promoting the needs of trade and maintaining the integrity of the international banking community. Hence, this dissertation argues that an approach to the fraud exception in South African law that is more in line with that of the American law and/or the UNCITRAL Convention strikes a better balance in upholding the value of letters of credit and combatting fraud than the current South African position. Based on the comparative analysis of the position in the United Kingdom, United States of America and under the UNCITRAL Convention, the dissertation seeks to draw upon important lessons and principles pivotal to a preferable approach to the fraud exception in South African law that would enhance a better balance between the autonomy arguments and deterrence of fraud.