Hinrichsen Attorneys

As partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree LLB at the University of Pretoria, Alexander Van Der Laan wrote his dissertation on the enforcement of human rights obligations on corporations by analysing the limitations of international law with regard to human rights enforcement against corporations, summarised as follows: F ull Dissertation The Problem The protection of human rights remains one of the principal aims of international law.  Additionally, there exists multiple sources of international law, such as the UN charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which specifically refer to the protection of such rights. Despite this, there are still entities, such as corporations, which face no liability for human rights abuses.

Thomani and Another v Seboka NO and Others   The Thomani case concerns a company that concluded a loan with a bank, and as security for such a loan, the bank and the applicants entered into a suretyship agreement in 2007 whereby they attached their mortgage bond as surety. In 2008 the company ceased making payments to the bank due to its inability to do so and the company was subsequently deregistered in 2010.  Thereafter, the Bank only issued summons in 2013, however due to the bond forming part of the surety it did not prescribe and default judgment was granted.  The case at hand deals with the rescission of same.