Times Of Swaziland: TRENCOR ORDERED TO PAY OVER E1.1M DEBT

TRENCOR ORDERED TO PAY OVER E1.1M DEBT
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Mhlengi Magongo on 09/11/2022 08:11:00


MBABANE – Trencor Investments (Pty) Ltd has been instructed to pay over E1.1
million plus 9 per cent interest owed to Africa Chicks (Pty) Ltd.
Africa Chicks (Pty) Ltd supplied broiler chicks and chicken feed to Trencor
Investments (Pty) Ltd, who were contending that all goods were duly paid for.
Africa Chicks (Pty) Ltd was the plaintiff and Trencor Investments (Pty) Ltd was
the defendant. The matter was before the High Court of Eswatini and judgment was
delivered by High Court Judge Bongani Sydney Dlamini. On November 6, 2016, the
plaintiff sued the defendant for two different sums of money, the sum of E642
212.14 and further sum of E460 152.02. The sum of E642 212.14 was said to have
risen from the sale and delivery of broiler chicks to the defendant at the
latter’s special instance and request. The sum of E460 152.02 was said to
arise from the sale and delivery of chicken feed to the defendant.
Trencor Investments disputed that Africa Chicks should provide proof of the
money owed by them and they further claimed that all outstanding amounts owed to
the plaintiff were settled.
On April 20, 2022, the matter was set for trial but both the plaintiff and
defendants were not present, the court removes the matter from roll. This then
forced the matter to be given a new trial date and it was allocated June 20 and
23, 2022. “The matter could, however, not proceed on the allocated dates due
to the unavailability of the court. The unavailability of the court was
explained to both parties,” said Dlamini in the judgment.
When the matter went for trial on October 18, 2022, Africa Chicks evidence was
presented through its only one witness, Julia Rita Saulos. The evidence by this
witness was that she was employed by the plaintiff in the 2016 and that she
presently occupies the position of Country Director within Africa Chicks. The
witness stated that prior to being the country director; she was employed by the
plaintiff as operations manager.
According to the testimony of Saulos, she stated that Vusi Humphrey Dlamini, the
Managing Director of Trencor Investments (Pty) Ltd was one of Africa Chicks
(Pty) Ltd major customers. She stated that the plaintiff would supply the
day-old chicks to the defendant on a weekly basis to his various farms situated
at Motshane and Sigangeni. The witness sated that on a weekly basis, the
plaintiff would supply between 20 000 to 25 000 day-old chicks to the defendant.
The evidence by Saulos was that the business arrangement between the parties was
that the plaintiff would supply on credit to the defendant, the day-old chicks
and that the defendant was expected to settle or pay for the goods within seven
or 30 days. “The evidence by Saulos was that the credit facility existing
between the parties was that upon delivery of the specified goods, an invoice
would then be generated by the plaintiff, which the defendant was required to
settle within the agreed period,” mentioned the High Court judge.
This arrangement, according to Saulos, continued until the defendant’s payment
of goods delivered became inconsistent and eventually stopped. She stated that
upon making payment, the defendant’s accounts department would thereafter
generate a reconciliation statement showing a list of deliveries and a list of
payments made to the plaintiff.
…defendant stopped making payments in 2015
MBABANE – The witness in the matter, Julia Rita Saulos, further mentioned that
Trencor Investments (Pty) Ltd stopped making payments in 2015.
She said the defendant withdrew its orders with the plaintiff and basically
stopped dealing with Africa Chicks (Pty) Ltd. The plaintiff then issued several
demands to the defendant for payment of the outstanding amounts of the money due
and payable to Africa Chicks (Pty) Ltd. According to Saulos, Trencor
Investments, being the defendant in the matter, gave several explanations for
not being able to pay the outstanding amounts including that its computer system
had crushed. The witness further stated that they made copies of all documents
including orders, delivery notes and invoices to the plaintiff but they would
still not pay.
She also mentioned that the defendant would also give the excuse that the person
who was doing their accounts had left their employ and that they were in the
process of reconciling their books and would get back to them. “Julia Rita
Saulos’s evidence was that the defendant’s officers kept giving one excuse
after the other for not paying the outstanding sum of money due to it,” said
Dlamini in the judgment. According to Saulos, Africa Chicks (Pty) Ltd uses a
Pastel programme for its accounting system. The witness stated that they printed
a full ledger from their accounting programme and sent it to Trencor Investments
(Pty) Ltd. Saulos further mentioned that Trencor Investments (Pty) Ltd had
undertaken an assessment of the sum of money due to the plaintiff and
established that only a sum of E589 535.03 was outstanding in respect of the
broiler chicks supplied to them by the plaintiff.
“This means the defendant was disputing a sum of E26 427.47 on this particular
claim, In this regard, Saulos showed the court a document prepared by the
defendant to show that it was only disputing the sum of E26 535.47 on the claim
for broiler chicks,” reads the judgment. It was in Saulos’s evidence that
Africa Chicks was also involved in the business of supplying broiler feed
sourced from the Republic of South Africa to its customers. Trencor Investments
(Pty) Ltd was one of Africa Chicks (Pty) Ltd customers, according to Saulos, the
credit arrangement existing between the parties was that the defendant was
expected to pay within 30 days.
Saulos stated that the plaintiff supplied feed and medication for the chicks of
the defendant. She further stated that the debt outstanding from Trencor
Investments (Pty) Ltd would at times rise up to E3 000 000, but the defendant
would gradually redue the debt until in would be slightly above E1 000 000. She
mentioned that currently, Trencor Investments was indebted to Africa Chicks the
sum of E642 212.14 for broiler chicks supplied to it and another sum of E460
156.02 in respect of broiler feed and medication.