Legal updates and opinions
Post Author
News / News
Governance Reforms for Listed Companies
by Kevin Trudgeon, Director and Helena Stoop, Senior Knowledge Lawyer
Listed companies in South Africa are facing a rapidly changing governance landscape. Three key instruments namely, the revised JSE Listings Requirements which took effect on 16 February 2026, the King V Code of Corporate Governance launched in October 2025, and amendments to the Companies Act promulgated in 2024 shape the regulatory framework under which boards must operate.
Although these three instruments address similar key aspects of corporate governance, they differ in purpose, scope and enforceability. This note offers an overview of governance obligations arising under the Companies Act, the JSE Listings Requirements, and King V. It highlights both points of alignment and areas of divergence, with particular focus on board composition, director independence, nomination and election processes, the roles of key officers, and the structure and functioning of board committees.
Each topic is discussed in light of recent developments, and the analysis is complemented by a comparative table that consolidates the requirements currently applicable to listed companies in South Africa.
Download the comparative guide here.
Latest News
Are raising fees similar to interest? The Supreme Court of Appeal says yes
by Doelie Lessing, Director and Head of Tax and Private Wealth, and Luke Magerman, Senior Associate In our article published [...]
The Competition Commission’s Rural and Township Economy Project – Be well advised to sit up and listen
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory, and Boitumelo Khwene, Candidate Attorney What the Report Is On 3 September [...]
The Regulator is Watching: New Enforcement Signals for POPIA and PAIA Compliance
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory, Armand Swart, Director and Hlonelwa Lutuli, Associate. The Information Regulator (Regulator) has [...]
Are your employees’ wearables creating a new governance blind spot?
by Tebogo Sibidla, Director Over the past decade, organisations have invested heavily in securing workplace technology. Laptops, smartphones, cloud applications [...]
Interviewing for survival: When competitive interviews during retrenchment are fair
by Bradley Workman-Davies, Director Employers undertaking restructuring exercises are frequently faced with a practical dilemma: where the new organisational structure [...]
Reinstated today, retrenched tomorrow? The limits of redundancy as a defence to reinstatement
by Bradley Workman-Davies, Director Reinstatement has long been recognised as the primary remedy for substantively unfair dismissal under the Labour [...]
