The laws -- which came into effect last year as part of the 2008 Companies Act -- help avoid job losses and liquidation by giving businesses protection against creditors, allowing for time to reorganise and restructure.

Rescue procedure

The figures, released by Statistics SA this week, also show a year-on-year decrease of 20.2 per cent in August.
Adam Harris, director of the litigation department at South African corporate law firm Bowman Gilfillan, commented: ‘The decrease in the number of liquidations in August 2012 was due to voluntary liquidations declining by 110. In contrast, compulsory liquidations increased by 49 over the period. Lower voluntary liquidations suggest that the business rescue procedure is taking hold in the economy and that there has been an increase in the number of companies seeking assistance.’