Abstract
Abstract : The social and ethics committee is a statutory board committee, elected to monitor and report on a company’s social and economic contribution towards society, by measuring its compliance with codes of best practice and relevant legislation. The committee is to ensure that a company conducts itself as a good corporate citizen. The concept of being a good corporate citizen is globally recognised and has now been made mandatory in South African corporate law by way of introducing the social and ethics committee. The committee is given vast powers in order to perform its functions; however, the functions of the committee remain an issue of concern as they are not sufficiently clear. It is for this reason that the question of the effectiveness of the social and ethics committee is explored, to establish whether the introduction of such a committee has been a progressive development or a burdensome task on qualifying companies.
LL.M. (Commercial Law)