Directors Personal Liability for Irregular, Wasteful and Fruitless Expenditure in South African (SA) State owned Companies (SOC).

Abstract

Directors of companies are the forerunners in overseeing and strategically managing a company.1 The Companies Act 71 of 2008 (the Companies Act) gives the board of directors the legislative obligation for a company to be managed by or under the direction of the board of directors.2 The board of directors have a central role in the decision making and operation of a company; this position also applies to the board of directors of State owned Companies (SOC). This dissertation explores methods to hold directors of SOCs personally liable for irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure Irregular expenditure is defined as expenditure that does not comply with the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999 (PFMA), the State Tender Board Act 86 of 1968 or any legislation that provides for provincial government procedure.3 Fruitless and wasteful expenditure is defined as ‘expenditure which was made in vain and would have been avoided had reasonable care has been exercised’.This research aims to analyse legislative mechanisms put in place that hold directors of SOCs personally liable for irregular, reckless, wasteful and fruitless expenditure. Section 77(2)(b) and 218(2) of the Companies Act contains the legislative basis for the personal liability of directors of SOCs for irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure.