Schweppes’ Supreme Court bid ‘fizzles out’

ZIMBABWE’S Supreme Court (SC) has dashed Delta Beverages (Delta)’s hope to overturn a R250 million damages award to South African commodities supplier Blakey Investments (Blakey) on the basis that its appeal had no merit.

The crushing verdict comes nearly 10 months after a number of High Court judges, including Tawanda Chitapi and Webster Chinamora, had ruled against the drinks-maker’s subsidiary Schweppes Limited, which had entered into a direct contract with the Durban-based firm.

“This court is satisfied that the evidence adduced… was clear and established the existence of a valid contract between the appellant, and the respondent. It would be contrary to public policy to allow appellant to escape its international obligations on the pretext of its own alleged default when previously it had met its obligations,” SC judges Chinembiri Bhunu, Lavender Makoni and Alphas Chitakunye said on Monday, adding the listed group must pay the costs”.

“As the contract provided for amendments, if the appellant realised it had not bargained well, its recourse was to seek amendments in terms of the contract,” they said.

While Delta and its associates had studiously tried to argue that the contract was invalid as it had been signed by a junior officer and supply chain director Cynthia Malaba, the SC found or ruled that it did not violate the country’s exchange control and competition rules.

And some of the points that the company tried to raise include claims that the agreement gave Blakey a “monopoly to determine the quantity of goods ordered and effecting price increases as well as sole prerogative to dissolve the four-year contract”.

However, Suman Panday’s Blakey had maintained that the pact – preceded by a relationship dating back to 2007 – was valid and Malaba had legal authority to ink the deal, as some senior executives knew of the agreement based on e-mail communications, a July 2019 audit and previous arrangements.

Crucially, it was Delta and its subsidiaries’ responsibility to ensure that it did not enter into agreements with foreign payment-implications and that its actions were compliant with the Zimbabwean law.

“With such an impartial judiciary, Zimbabwe is surely a safe investment destination… and such that its national development strategy-driven quest to develop into a middle-class economy by 2030 is achievable..,” Blakey chief executive Panday said in a brief response and statement on Monday.

A self-styled billionaire, the South African-based trader said the ruling showed the “existence and solidity of jurisprudence in Harare’s superior courts”.