An ownership dispute over a multimillion-rand tourist lodge in Mpumalanga has gone to the SCA after a couple demanded decent accommodation for black staff and for a black manager to be paid as much as a junior, white administrator. A City Press report says Sibusiso (39) and Ntombizodwa (30) Tshabalala’s stake in Bundu Lodge is before the SCA after the former owner unsuccessfully applied to the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) to have the deal cancelled.

Last year, the Tshabalalas paid R32m for a 67.7% stake in Bundu Lodge, outside the town of White River. The Tshabalalas bought the stake from founder and owner Willem Janson after securing a R32m loan from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). But, halfway through the sale process, Janson changed his mind and went to court to try to cancel the deal, claiming the Tshabalalas hadn’t met the conditions of sale.

The Tshabalalas believe Janson’s about-turn had nothing to do with their failure to uphold their part of the bargain. They claim it was because they raised concerns about racism at their first board meeting in September.

Janson, an attorney, has dismissed the allegations as ‘nonsense’ and ‘absolute rubbish’. ‘They tried to make out there’s racism. I was the first (white) man in Mpumalanga to work with black lawyers in my office, and that was during apartheid,’ he said. In court papers, Janson said the Tshabalalas failed to fulfil two conditions of the sale agreement: that the IDC should approve their loan application by 23 October 2017 and that a shareholding agreement be entered into.

Janson claimed these conditions were not met, but acting Judge Henk Roelofse found otherwise.

‘The reliance upon any non-fulfilment of the first condition is perverse and an afterthought, most probably brought about by the seller’s remorse,’ Roelofse ruled. The judge also found that the IDC and the Tshabalalas entered into a loan agreement last year, and had also concluded a shareholding agreement.

Janson petitioned the SCA directly after Roelofse dismissed his application for leave to appeal his judgment.

Full City Press report