Voluntary liquidation

How a voluntary winding-up starts

Under sections 349 to 352 of the Companies Act 61 of 1973 — still applicable to insolvent companies through item 9 of Schedule 5 to the 2008 Act — the members adopt a special resolution and lodge it with CIPC. Registration of that resolution is the moment the winding-up begins; no court is involved. If the company cannot pay its debts it is a creditors' voluntary winding-up, and the Master then appoints a liquidator and convenes the first meeting.

In the Gazette these companies show up on Form J28 with the words “special resolution” or “voluntary liquidation”, and again on Form J29 when the first meeting is called. A solvent company can also be wound up voluntarily under the 2008 Act (section 80), but such members' voluntary windings-up rarely reach these columns.

354 entities, 31 of them close corporations; Gauteng has the most.