Kora case heads to Supreme Court

ELLANIE SMIT WINDHOEKMundial Telecom Sarl has turned to the Supreme Court to appeal a High Court judgment that ordered it to pay back money owed to the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) for its failure to host the Kora Awards.Judge Herman Oosthuizen in January ruled in favour of NTB in a court case that has been dragging on since 2016.He ordered Mundial to repay NTB slightly more than N$23.5 million, with 20% interest per annum from 1 July 2016 to the date of final payment. It was also ordered to pay NTB’s cost of suit.Mundial is asking that Oosthuizen judgment be set aside and that NTB’s claim be dismissed. In the notice of appeal, it said Oosthuizen erred in law and fact in several of his findings.The matter dates back to September 2016 when NTB first sued Mundial, Kora Awards founder Ernest Adjovi and Tonata Shiimi for N$23 million (plus 20% interest), which it paid for a platinum tourism package it never received to market Namibia.Mundial owns the rights to host the Kora Awards, while Andjovi acted as the president of the company and Shiimi was the national director of the awards.Mundial resolved to host the event in Namibia on 20 March 2016. It was initially scheduled to take place on 13 December 2015, but was then postponed.AppealMundial said Oosthuizen erred when he found that its decision to cancel the Kora Awards due to late payment was contrary to their agreement and a mere face-saving exercise. It said the decision to cancel arose from, amongst other things, that nothing in the agreement precluded them from cancelling it upon breach of commitment by NTB.It also said Oostuizen erred by rejecting the fact that Mundial’s contentions derived from its agreement with government.The company said this is despite the fact that its cancellation arose expressly for NTB’s failure to comply with payment obligations under the agreement.“The agreement with the government was obviously the source giving rise to the obligation to host the event and the agreement with NTB was for the purchase package in respect of the event. The inter-relatedness of the two agreements are naturally unaffected by the recordable provisions,” it said.ellanie@namibiansun.com

Kora case heads to Supreme Court

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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Kora case heads to Supreme Court

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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