An advertising company is demanding more than N$3.2 million from the Independent Patriots for Change after the party failed to honour their 2020 gentlemen’s agreement.
The company, Anga Enterprise CC, claims the party never paid for the services it rendered to it between July 2020 and November 2020.
The agreement was entered into by Gabriela Nietche-Kandolf, owner of Anga Enterprise CC, and IPC national secretary general Christine !Aochamus.
According to Nietche-Kandolf, the terms of their oral agreement stipule that Anga Enterprise shall on order deliver branded promotional materials for the party, such as T-shirts, golf shirts, caps, berets, floppies, badges and other related services with IPC’s insignia and logos.
The discounted services will be for three years.
The parties also agreed that the party will pay an upfront 50% deposit, of which the remainder will be payable upon delivery or collection of the material.
Their oral agreement also indicated that all invoices will be paid within 30 days or they will attract an interest rate of 2.4% per month.
However, !Aochamus said Nietche-Kandolf approached the party with the proposal to deliver promotional materials.
At the time, Nietche-Kandolf allegedly said it would be beneficial to both parties.
!Aochamus said the agreement explicitly stated the party would pay for the items delivered and subsequently sold.
“But the applicant started producing items en masse without any supply order from the respondent and dumped these items at the premises of the respondent and created invoices without end,” said !Aochamus.
She denies that it was agreed there would be an upfront 50% deposit.
During oral arguments yesterday before Windhoek High Court Judge Boas Usiku, IPC’s lawyer Dirk Conradie said it was explicitly agreed between the two parties that the party would only pay once the items were delivered and subsequently sold to the supporters.
However, the company supplied goods without the party having requested them.
“The respondent (IPC) did not have the financial capacity to pay the applicant upfront for the items provided, and its operations were in its infancy – the implication being that the respondent would not have submitted itself to such an arrangement as contended by the applicant,” said Conradie.
He said the party paid N$890 385.17 for the items supplied by the company, which were subsequently sold as per the agreements, which Nietche-Kandolf failed to mention in her claim.
Conradie said other allegations will be dealt with at a later stage if the court dismisses Anga Enterprise CC’s application for a summary judgment.
A summary judgment, according to Conradie, is extraordinary, drastic and very stringent, as the matter is decided without going to trial, where evidence is presented.
On the application, Conradie argued that what is contained in Anga Enterprise CC’s particulars of claim does not constitute evidence but mere allegations.
“The applicant (IPC) brought this summary judgment due to the so-called liquid documents attached to its affidavit in support of this application,” said Conradie.
He said the documents presented are not liquid as Anga Enterprise CC claims.
“The applicant’s approach was clearly one of attempting to adroitly pick holes in the defence of the respondent and hope that this application will succeed because of that,” said Conradie.
However, Anga Enterprise CC lawyer Roberto Avila said the terms of the agreement were not that the goods became payable upon delivery or collection, but it is rather a consignment agreement that the party would sell the goods to its supporters and pay over the proceeds upon receipt of payment.
However, the party failed to comply with the terms of the agreement.
Avila said they seek a summary judgment despite IPC’s wish to defend the case at trial.
“The defendant defends the matter merely to cause delay and does not have a bona fide defence to the plaintiff’s claim,” he said.
Judge Usiku will deliver judgment on 15 May.
- mamakali@nepc.com.na