People pictured walking into a Shoprite supermarket in Kenya. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY.
South African retail store, Shoprite has asked the High Court to lift an order halting its planned exit from Kenya over a petition filed by a shopper who claims to have been injured in one of its branches.
In reply to a case filed by Mr Patrick Macharia Maina, the retail chain said the continued existence of the order was causing it massive financial losses and likely to expose it to lawsuits.
The supermarket said in the court documents that it was willing to deposit Shs108m in a joint income earning account, to act as security.
Mr Anton Wagenaar, a director of the supermarket, said the decision to exit Kenya was made in March last year and the supermarket commenced negotiations with various landlords to surrender their leases ahead of time.
He said the retail chain eventually entered into settlement agreements with all landlords and which have been executed by the time the order was issued by Justice Anthony Mrima.
Can pay successful claim
He
said the supermarket can pay Mr Maina in case he is successful in his
claim, further revealing that it had proposed to deposit Shs18m in a
joint interest earning account but he declined the offer and even an
enhanced figure of Shs72m.
Mr Wagenaar said Mr Maina refused to quantify his “soft tissue injury claim” or present medical report but demanded a settlement of over Shs6.84b on alleged loss of earnings.
Mr Maina had sued the supermarket seeking compensation saying that a stack of plastic lids fell on him causing him soft tissue injury while shopping at its Garden City branch.
He said the supermarket had plans of closing down its
shops in Kenya later, which would make it difficult for him to get
compensation.
In the ruling, Justice Mrima had said that in the event
that Shoprite is allowed to leave Kenya as they intend to then it will
be hard to enforce any order of the court.
“In order to strike a balance between the rival positions, and prior to determining whether this Court has the jurisdiction to deal with this Petition, it is only fair that an interim relief be granted,” the court ruled.
Suffered several injuries
The
father of two who was shopping with his family said he suffered several
injuries, swollen lips, lacerations on the lips and bleeding inside the
mouth.
In reply, Shoprite said it is an international supermarket chain of global repute, operating more than 2,500 stores in 15 countries. The company said its holding company is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and its planned closure in Kenya had been , unlike other supermarkets, done in an orderly and professional manner.
monitor@ug.nationmedia.com
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