Shareholder appraisal rights in Swaziland - suggestions for legislative reform

As a general rule in company law, the business of the company is conducted based on the votes of the majority of shareholders in that company. In certain instances however, the majority might take decisions that are detrimental to the minority shareholders of the company and therefore it is imperative that any company legislation has significant protective measures for minority shareholders in place. This paper will discuss the concept of minority shareholder protection. This paper will do a comparative study between the shareholder appraisal regimes in the United States, Canada and South Africa. Since appraisal rights do not exist in Swaziland, a comparative study of minority shareholder protection in the United Kingdom will also be undertaken because Swaziland was colonised by the British and as such most of its law is rooted in English Law. It is from this lens that this paper will then examine minority shareholder protection in Swaziland. The research question addressed by this dissertation is two-fold. The first part of the question analyses the current measures in place for minority shareholder protection in Swaziland in comparison to measures that other jurisdictions have in place for the protection of minority shareholder rights. The second part looks at what the ideal shareholder appraisal rights law in Swaziland should contain in light of the current legislation as a means to make it more easily accessible to minority shareholders. The purpose of the dissertation is not to recommend a wholesome transplant of shareholder appraisal rights of either one of the jurisdictions under discussion, but to highlight the best practices of the jurisdictions and suggest a shareholder appraisal rights law that best suits the Swaziland business and economic environment.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Commercial Law

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Mathabela, Edward Siyabonga

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Yeats, Jacqueline

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13356

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13356