Moorosi Tsiane
BASOTHO-OWNED supermarket, Enrich Store, has been taken to court by its landlord, Moosa Group of Companies, over outstanding rent amounting to over half-a-million maloti.
The supermarket, situated at Ha Mafafa in Maseru, allegedly failed to pay M588 585.71 in rent for the past three months.
The store is a subsidiary of Enrich Holdings which is owned by over 1200 Basotho shareholders who raised M4 million capital to fund the ground-breaking project.
According to papers filed by Moosa Group of Companies in the High Court on Monday this week, the supermarket has not been paying the M180 090 monthly rent for the past three months hence the litigation.
Enrich’s suspended co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Maine John Maine, and his co-founder, Refuoe Monaheng, as well as Enrich Holdings, have been cited as first to third defendant, respectively in the matter, which had not been heard by the court by the end of business yesterday.
Moosa claims in the court papers: “We leased up our commercial property Shop no. 4 at Ha Mafafa Building to the defendants for a three-year period starting 1 January 2020 to December 2022. The initial monthly rental was M126 500 for the first year which would escalate at a rate of eight-percent.
“The agreement was renewed on 1 January 2023. At the time of the institution of this summon, the monthly rental is M180 090. The defendants breached the agreement by failing to comply with its obligation in failing to make monthly rental payments. The total amount due and payable as of 10 July 2023 is M588 585. 71.”
It has not been smooth-sailing for Enrich Holdings which has been dealing with one problem after another.
In May this year, the company’s board of directors had to suspend co-founder and CEO, Maine, after accusing him of failing to effectively run the firm. Among the accusations levelled against Mr Maine was failure to file tax returns on time, leading to the company operating without a tax clearance certificate at one time, which is a crime under Lesotho law.
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