A former shop tenant who took the management of Dragon City Wholesale Mall in Fordsburg, Johannesburg, to court in a bid to retake control of his business has had his urgent application dismissed and been told to pay all legal fees, says a Saturday Star report. Bareket Gebru, who initially leased out two shops at the centre, accused the landlords of using their bodyguards to forcefully remove, intimidate and assault him, as well as holding at least R500 000 worth of stock to ransom.

In the urgent application heard last week in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg), Gebru asked the court to allow him to return to running the shop and management to return his stock. However, the management argued the eviction was free of any violence, that Gebru’s lease ran out and was not renewed, and that he was trying to manipulate the court to stay in business.

It denied stock theft and said Gebru had failed to provide proof of its value. The judge ruled that Gebru had been inconsistent in his multiple statements. The judge also took into account that by reinstating Gebru to his original shop, the new tenant’s rights would be infringed.

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