- Liability of governing bodies of limited companies The thesis deals with the liability of governing bodies of limited companies in the light of the recodification of private law. The given topic is becoming increasingly acute in the Czech legal environment, especially with regard to the codification of due diligence and the business judgment rule in the basic acts of private law, namely the Civil Code and the Business Corporations Act. The aim of this work is to provide a comprehensive insight into the problems of the concept of liability within the Civil Code and a view into the Business Corporations Act and the ensuing liability of governing bodies of limited companies. In the first chapter of this thesis, various key concepts, which are used and elaborated throughout this paper, are analyzed and defined. The concept of liability is analyzed in terms of a historical perspective - both from the so-called prospective and retrospective conception to the conception contained in the Civil Code. The concept of a statutory body (governing body) is analyzed both in terms of rules contained in the Civil Code and in terms of the different specificities of the Business Corporations Act including the analysis of directors of a limited company and the board of directors of a joint-stock company. The second...

This diploma thesis deals with the institute of the membership of a legal entity performing the office of a governing body's member of a limited company. Since the New Civil Code and the Law on Commercial Corporations have entered into force, this very institute was given formed, however not full-range, legal framework. The thesis is divided into seven chapters. The opening part outlines the basic issues of the thesis, linked to the conception of a legal entity due to the theory of fiction. The second chapter is dedicated to the conditions that have to be fulfilled by the legal entity as well as its representative for the performance of the office of a governing body of a limited company. The third chapter analyses in detail the way of the representation of the legal entity performing the office of a governing body's member, with regard to the disputable questions in particular, such as the scope of a representative's competence, substitute representation and the matter of the joint statutory body. Within the fourth chapter, the attention is paid to responsibilities linked to the performance of the office by a legal entity, especially to the duty to perform such office with the duty of care, as well as the matter of the conflict of interests. The fifth chapter is dedicated to the particular types...

In some schools in Gauteng the School Governing Bodies operate in such a way that some principals dominate them and impose rules upon teachers and pretend as if the directives are instructions from the SGBs whereas they are not. According to Heystek (in De Groof, Heystek, Malherbe and Squelch, 1997:152), in many cases, the true focus of power and authority remains where it has always been. This simply means that sometimes conflict will arise between the school principal and the School Governing Body (SGB) because some school principals will try by all means to cling to power even if the South African Schools Act tries to decentralise the power of school governance. The thesis focuses on aspects of the relationship between the school principals and the School Governing Bodies (SGBs), their duties and responsibilities, and the effects of their relationship on the learners, teachers and parents. A proper demarcation of duties and responsibilities of the School Governing Bodies and those of school principals will help them to govern and manage the schools harmoniously and effectively. The irony is that principals must empower and train their SGBs who are supposed to be their partners but who sometimes become their competitors and the contradiction is how can one empower his/her competitor. / Thesis (PhD (Education Management and Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Education Management and Policy Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

On 15 February 2007, the previous Minister of Education, Mrs Naledi Pandor reacted to a Democratic Alliance press release by stating that she strongly supported the use of Afrikaans and other native languages as media of instruction in schools. In the same speech she said that Section 29(2) of the Constitution does not see single-medium schools as a right, but as an educational alternative that, together with other alternatives, including double and parallel medium, should be explored in giving effect to the right to education in a language of choice, taking into account fairness, feasibility and the need to restore the injustices of the past (Pandor, 2007). If we look at four recent court cases, we are getting a totally different picture. In all four cases, the Department of Education tried to change single medium schools to double or parallel medium schools. These cases are: <ul> <li> Hoërskool Ermelo v Department van Onderwys;</li> <li> Seodin Primary School and Others v MEC of Education;</li> <li> Western Cape Minister of Education v Governing Body of Mikro Primary School;</li> <li> Laerskool Middelburg en 'n Ander v Departementshoof;</li> </ul> What happened to getting educated in a language of choice, and what about the right of the direct community, through the Governing Body’s decision on that language? Does a school policy, adopted by a School Governing Body, have legality? In line with these questions we may ask; do judges properly decide on rulings in these matters? The purpose of my study is to investigate how schools may establish a well written language policy that will be in line with legal requirements, ensuring that a school can exercise its language policy and medium of teaching in the school. With the ministry propagating one thing, but doing something else, certain duties, delegated to the Governing Body, but very easily taken away, and judges not always being consistent, feeling is that matters should be investigated. The Education Management, Law and Policy Studies provides us with a framework, in order to investigate the legitimacy of language policies in South Africa. This framework articulates that law forms the building blocks for educational management. This research takes its departing point in legal positivism, which holds that everything should be done as closely as prescribed by the law. Section 29(2) of the Constitution reads: “Everyone has the right to receive education in the official language or languages of their choice in public educational institutions where that education is reasonably practicable. In order to ensure the effective access to, and implementation of this right, the state must consider all reasonable educational alternatives, including single medium institutions, taking into account: <ul> <li> equity;</li> <li> practicability; and</li> <li> the need to redress the results of past racially discriminatory laws and practices.”</li> </ul> In this study an in depth investigation is conducted into the four recent court cases, where the situations of those schools were more or less similar. Two of the schools were allowed to continue as single medium Afrikaans schools, but the others were forced to change their language policy to either dual or parallel medium Afrikaans-English schools. The main aim of this study is to provide a better understanding as to why the judgements in the above mentioned court cases differ and to investigate the measures schools can take to prevent confrontation with similar situations. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

The South African Schools Act (No. 84 of 1996) mandates the government to make financial allocations to needy schools. Section 21 of the Act read together with the National Norms and Standards for School Funding, stipulates that schools falling into certain categories (quintiles) receive given amount of funds per each and every learner. The funds are meant to help promote the equal and unparalleled access to education for all citizens as set-out in Section 29 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996). The study focused on investigating the manner in which two selected Section 21 primary schools are managing their allocated funds. The empirical study made use of a qualitative paradigm through which data was collected using interviews and focus group discussions to collect data from a sample comprising of thirty-five respondents. In terms of data analysis, the study used a qualitative analysis approach to interpret data into readable information for the various categories of audiences in the study. The findings of the study were, inter alia, that financial management skills are low in the schools, the amounts appropriated to schools needs to be revised upwards because schools need more funding for renovations and property development in schools, sanctions for those guilty of school financial misconduct are too soft and auditing of financial record is not being constantly done. The study recommends that the following be considered in order to help improve school financial management; the training of financial officers in school on how to best manage funds, imposition of stiffer penalties for offenders of financial misconduct and increase in allocation aimed at school property development.

Magister Legum - LLM / This research paper has examined whether and to what extent current legislation must be amended to make provision for the evolving role of the company secretary. The significance of the problem will be discussed by considering the definition of corporate governance and what it seeks to achieve. Why companies experience corporate governance failures, despite certain companies being considered examples of good corporate governance, will also be discussed. The research will also show that corporate governance failures have resulted in the enactment of legislation, codes of good corporate governance and a focus on the role players involved in corporate governance, particularly the company secretary.

Magister Educationis - MEd / Parental involvement in their children’s schooling has been found to be an important factor with regard to children’s experience of schooling including their academic performance. This quantitative study focused on parental involvement at a school of skills in the Cape metropole, Western Cape. Epstein’s (2009) six typologies of parental involvement in their children’s schooling provided the theoretical framework of the study and guided the formulation of the research instrument and the data analysis of the study. A survey research design was used and 74 parent/caregiver participants were conveniently sampled after all ethical protocols were followed. The findings indicated that participants: (i) indicated a very positive attitude towards being involved in the education of their children at the school of skills and were inspired to be involved in the education of their children, (ii) were highly involved in the following typologies of parental involvement: learning at home, parenting and collaboration with community, (iii) communication between school and the parents as a form of parental involvement was found to be at a moderate level, (iv) participants were found to be minimally involved in decision-making as a form of parental involvement, (v) volunteering as a form of parental involvement was represented by low to moderate levels of involvement, (vi) participants’ marital status, forms of kinship relations with the learners at the school of skills (e.g. biological mother, foster parent) and levels of formal education were not found to have a significant statistical relationship with their levels of parental involvement in their children’s schooling. (vii) The challenges that participants faced with regard to their involvement in their children’s schooling included the following: a) a fair number of about 30% participants frequently found language as a barrier for them to assist their children with homework, b) about 46% of the participants indicated that they were seldom or never recruited by educators to volunteer at the School of Skills, c) about half of the participants indicated that their challenge was that they were not trained on how to offer their talents for volunteering at the school, d) participants also found it difficult to share information with the school about their child’s cultural background, talents, and needs.

Status of governing body of business corporation in liquidation Abstract The frequency of cases of business corporations in liquidation has an increasing trend, however, it cannot be said that the academic interest would sufficiently cover the topic of liquidations. There are still a number of insufficiently answered questions that lead to completely opposite conclusions in practice. This diploma thesis deals with one such issue, which is the position of the statutory body of a business corporation in liquidation. In the ranks of the professional community, one can also encounter certain doubts about the existence of the statutory body of a business corporation in liquidation, that the statutory body should cease to exist. This paper seeks to answer this question through a critical analysis of legal regulations and compilations of works by the professional community. At the beginning the work briefly defines the individual terms in the first chapter for the needs of this work in order to maintain the conceptual unity. The terms are business corporation, statutory body, liquidation and its purpose and, last but not least, the liquidator. First, however, the question of the existence of the statutory body of a business corporation in liquidation must be resolved. Here, I conclude, by means of a critical...

Duties of a member of governing body of a limited company in financial difficulties Abstract This thesis discusses duties of a member of governing body of a limited company in financial difficulties, specifically chosen institutes not only from corporate law but from insolvency law as well. The main goal of this thesis is to define period of financial difficulties and to create a basic overview of legal duties that are connected to this period. When analysing individual duties, where I take into consideration conclusions from specialised literature and from decisions of the courts, I focus on problematic parts of the enacted law. The thesis proposes de lege ferenda propositions and also reflects on the amendment to the Business Corporations Act. The thesis is divided into four chapters. The first chapter deals with the due managerial care and diligence. It is the key duty, which is imposed on the members of governing body of a limited company. In the second chapter I discuss the state of financial trouble of the company. The Czech lawmaker tries to reflect on this economical state by the institutes of insolvency and impending insolvency, which I focus on within this part. These institutes are linked to a number of legal duties. Chapters three and four constitute the core of the thesis. Chapter three...

Membership of school governing bodies is a new experience for many communities in South Africa, because the election system for school governing bodies was only introduced during 1997 for the purpose of a decentralised management and governing system for schools in the country. The new dispensation of democracy brought about some unique challenges, for example, how to deal with diversity effectively. In this sense, the successful management of diversity in education is viewed as one ·of the toughest challenges in the South African education system. The aforementioned challenge led to the rationale for this research, which focused on the influence of diversity on the functionality of school governing bodies and how to manage diversity in the school governing bodies from the Laingsburg education region. The strategy for the research was based on a qualitative research approach that took the form of an interactive investigation of the views and experiences of the participants in relation to the research topic. The research was further undertaken from an interpretative approach which is appropriate, because the social experiences of the participants were central to this research. Some of the most important findings were that prejudices and stereotyping with regard to diversity posed a stumbling block for the effective functioning of school governing bodies. To the contrary, it was also found that the perspective of diversity as variety, is an advantage due to the multiplicity of available talents and competencies which can be utilised to the benefit of education. Policy frameworks for the management of diversity and I appropriate communication were also part of the findings that have an influence on the functionality of school governing bodies. The recommendations included amongst other that all role players should be represented in the school governing body; training is regarded as a priority; members should be willing to accept the role of servant leadership and finally the roles of the principal and school governing body should be clarified to avoid friction and possible conflict. The value of the research is in the first place a contribution to a better understanding of the concept of diversity and it also supports the management of diversity in school governing bodies of rural areas. / MEd (Education Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014