NEWS - NAMIBIA
| 2013-07-29Witvlei eviction threat intensifies
Werner Menges
THE Agricultural Bank of Namibia has won another round in its legal battle with abattoir operator Witvlei Meat, which is now facing a renewed threat of being evicted from the slaughterhouse it has been renting from Agribank over the past seven years.
The bank scored its latest win in a continuing legal showdown with Witvlei Meat in the Windhoek High Court on Friday, when Judge Dave Smuts dismissed Witvlei Meat’s attempt to get a court order that would have suspended an earlier eviction order that Agribank obtained against it. Witvlei Meat applied for an order suspending the eviction order until the appeal it has lodged against the eviction order has been decided in the Supreme Court. Witvlei Meat will now be trying to have its appeal heard on an urgent basis, one of the company’s lawyers, Hanno Bossau, indicated after the delivery of the judgement.
On behalf of Agribank, its spokesperson, Regan Mwazi, said the bank is engaged in consultations with its shareholder, government, and the next steps to be taken by the bank would depend on those consultations.
Agribank filed a case against Witvlei Meat in the High Court in May last year. The bank asked the court to grant an order evicting the company from the abattoir, situated at Witvlei in the Omaheke Region, which Witvlei Meat has been renting from the bank since August 2006.
After fighting the case, Witvlei lost the first round on 20 March this year when Judge Smuts ruled in favour of the bank and granted it the eviction order it had been seeking. Witvlei Meat then lodged an appeal against that judgement, but the appeal lapsed after the company failed to meet the deadline for the payment of a sum of money as security for the bank’s legal costs in the appeal. With the lapsing of the appeal, the automatic suspension of the eviction order pending the finalisation of the appeal also ended. That prompted Witvlei Meat to file an urgent application in the High Court in an attempt to get an order for the suspension of the earlier eviction order.
The company is in the meantime also asking the Supreme Court to reinstate its appeal and to condone the late payment of the security for the bank’s legal costs in the appeal. Witvlei Meat is running a successful abattoir with an annual turnover of N$120 million and employs 160 people, who stand to lose their employment overnight, should the company be evicted from the abattoir, the chairperson of Witvlei Meat’s board of directors, Sidney Martin, has stated in an affidavit filed with the court.
In the judgement delivered on Friday, Judge Smuts revisited his earlier judgement, which ended in the eviction order against Witvlei Meat.
He concluded that in his view, Witvlei Meat would not enjoy reasonable prospects of success with its appeal in the Supreme Court. The company has continued to occupy the abattoir premises at Witvlei for about three years without a right to do so, and it would not accord with substantial justice to allow it to continue to occupy the slaughterhouse without a lease agreement with the bank while it pursues the appeal to the Supreme Court in the normal course, he decided.
In the judgement in which the eviction order was given, Judge Smuts found that the lease agreement came to an end in mid-2010, and that the company could not show any other lawful basis on which it is continuing to occupy the abattoir.
He also found that Witvlei Meat failed to exercise an option to buy the abattoir from the bank at a price of N$15 million, and that this option to purchase should have been exercised by the end of July 2008, which was when an initial two-year lease agreement between the company and the bank came to an end.
It is Witvlei Meat’s view, though, that the option to buy the abattoir, which was contained in the first lease agreement, was extended into a second lease agreement, and that the company later exercised that option.
However, after the company informed the bank that it wanted to buy the abattoir at the price of N$15 million set in the first lease agreement, the bank liaised with the ministers of agriculture and finance, the court has been informed. At the end of May 2011 the finance minister informed the bank that Cabinet had directed that the abattoir should be offered to Witvlei Meat at a market related price, which in July 2010 was determined to be about N$40,5 million.
Following that development, Witvlei Meat however stuck to its stance that it still had the option to buy the abattoir for N$15 million.
The bank scored its latest win in a continuing legal showdown with Witvlei Meat in the Windhoek High Court on Friday, when Judge Dave Smuts dismissed Witvlei Meat’s attempt to get a court order that would have suspended an earlier eviction order that Agribank obtained against it. Witvlei Meat applied for an order suspending the eviction order until the appeal it has lodged against the eviction order has been decided in the Supreme Court. Witvlei Meat will now be trying to have its appeal heard on an urgent basis, one of the company’s lawyers, Hanno Bossau, indicated after the delivery of the judgement.
On behalf of Agribank, its spokesperson, Regan Mwazi, said the bank is engaged in consultations with its shareholder, government, and the next steps to be taken by the bank would depend on those consultations.
Agribank filed a case against Witvlei Meat in the High Court in May last year. The bank asked the court to grant an order evicting the company from the abattoir, situated at Witvlei in the Omaheke Region, which Witvlei Meat has been renting from the bank since August 2006.
After fighting the case, Witvlei lost the first round on 20 March this year when Judge Smuts ruled in favour of the bank and granted it the eviction order it had been seeking. Witvlei Meat then lodged an appeal against that judgement, but the appeal lapsed after the company failed to meet the deadline for the payment of a sum of money as security for the bank’s legal costs in the appeal. With the lapsing of the appeal, the automatic suspension of the eviction order pending the finalisation of the appeal also ended. That prompted Witvlei Meat to file an urgent application in the High Court in an attempt to get an order for the suspension of the earlier eviction order.
The company is in the meantime also asking the Supreme Court to reinstate its appeal and to condone the late payment of the security for the bank’s legal costs in the appeal. Witvlei Meat is running a successful abattoir with an annual turnover of N$120 million and employs 160 people, who stand to lose their employment overnight, should the company be evicted from the abattoir, the chairperson of Witvlei Meat’s board of directors, Sidney Martin, has stated in an affidavit filed with the court.
In the judgement delivered on Friday, Judge Smuts revisited his earlier judgement, which ended in the eviction order against Witvlei Meat.
He concluded that in his view, Witvlei Meat would not enjoy reasonable prospects of success with its appeal in the Supreme Court. The company has continued to occupy the abattoir premises at Witvlei for about three years without a right to do so, and it would not accord with substantial justice to allow it to continue to occupy the slaughterhouse without a lease agreement with the bank while it pursues the appeal to the Supreme Court in the normal course, he decided.
In the judgement in which the eviction order was given, Judge Smuts found that the lease agreement came to an end in mid-2010, and that the company could not show any other lawful basis on which it is continuing to occupy the abattoir.
He also found that Witvlei Meat failed to exercise an option to buy the abattoir from the bank at a price of N$15 million, and that this option to purchase should have been exercised by the end of July 2008, which was when an initial two-year lease agreement between the company and the bank came to an end.
It is Witvlei Meat’s view, though, that the option to buy the abattoir, which was contained in the first lease agreement, was extended into a second lease agreement, and that the company later exercised that option.
However, after the company informed the bank that it wanted to buy the abattoir at the price of N$15 million set in the first lease agreement, the bank liaised with the ministers of agriculture and finance, the court has been informed. At the end of May 2011 the finance minister informed the bank that Cabinet had directed that the abattoir should be offered to Witvlei Meat at a market related price, which in July 2010 was determined to be about N$40,5 million.
Following that development, Witvlei Meat however stuck to its stance that it still had the option to buy the abattoir for N$15 million.
