Aloe-Well (Pty) Ltd ('Aloe-Well') is a company that distributes Aloe Vera sports supplements. Aloe-Well has been a successful company, generating profits and declaring dividends in accordance with the terms stipulated in the company's memorandum of incorporation. In the beginning of December 2021, the directors of Aloe-Well issued a media statement, stating that the share price of the company had collapsed. According to the media statement, the collapse of the share price is due to accounting irregularities. Furthermore, it was discovered during forensic investigations that the financial statements of Aloe-Well were 'false, falsified, misleading, incomplete, and failed to reflect an accurate picture of the company's financial state'. The shareholders of Aloe-Well, most of whom lost a significant portion of their investment in Aloe-Well, approach you to initiate proceedings in terms of section 218(2) of the Companies Act 71 of 2008. The purpose of the proceedings is to launch a claim against the directors of Aloe-Well, for pure economic loss as a result of a reduction in the value of shares of the company.

As the legal counsel for the shareholders of Aloe-Well, you are required to provide legal advice, based on the principles established in Itzikowitz v Absa Bank Ltd (20729/2014) [2016] ZASCA 43 (31 March 2016) related cases and authority on whether a shareholder's claim based on a reduction in the value of shares, is a correct cause of action for the shareholders to pursue, given the applicable company law principles.