Zimbabwe: Boka, Zitac Row Takes New Twist

Source from:  All Africa 12/09/2010

THE wrangle between the Zimbabwe Tobacco Auction Centre and Boka Investments has taken a new twist with the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board awarding Boka Investments an auction floor licence for the 2011 tobacco marketing season. TIMB chairman Mr Njodzi Machirori made the announcement last Friday during a reception to mark the end of the 2010 tobacco season. "During the coming season there will be two floors operating -- Tobacco Sales Floors and Boka," he said. Mr Machirori said the decision to award a licence to Boka Investments was reached after efforts to resolve the disagreement the company and its tenant Zitac over the lease failed to produce a win-win situation. Zitac has been operating from the Boka Tobacco Auction Floors for nine years. "We had proposed that Boka Investments should get a licence while Zitac gets a management contract but this was rejected and we decided to award the licence to Boka," he said. The arbitration followed a protracted rental dispute between the two. Boka Investments has been seeking to have Zitac evicted from the floors over allegations of turning the auction floors into a centre for vice. Mr Machirori also indicated that their decision to award a licence to Boka was also influenced by summons issued by Boka at the High Court barring the TIMB from issuing Zitac with an auction floor licence. However, Zitac is opposing the interdict on the basis that its lease expires in 2016. In a statement issued yesterday, Zitac said the announcement by the TIMB chairman was unfortunate as it came at a time when a case between it and Boka Investments was pending at the High Court. In the court case Boka Investments is seeking to have Zitac's lease cancelled but the latter is challenging this. "The matter is still to be heard by the court. While the case is pending, and we believe we will prevail, the lease remains in force. The statement issued by the TIMB chairman is not only malicious or mischievous but extremely misleading and illegal because it is contemptuous of the court process which upholds the lease until it is determined by the courts. "TIMB licenses a building and in this case Boka Investments do not have a building for it to be licensed. We would like to assure all our customers that we will be auctioning tobacco in 2011," read part of the statement. Zitac also said they would be setting up auction floors in Mashonaland East, West and Central next year to get closer to the farmers, a move that is consistent with Government's call to decentralise the tobacco auction floors. "Our plant and equipment, which has nothing to do with the Boka family, is intact at the auction floors," said Zitac. Some stakeholders who attended the reception said the decision taken by TIMB was ill-timed and ill-advised. "The TIMB should not have been involved in the first place especially when there is a case pending before the courts. To the best of my knowledge as long there is no determination at the courts we are heading for problems come next season because technically Zitac are the sitting tenants and, although Boka has the licence, they have nowhere to operate from. "We are targeting about 200 million kg this season and with the kind of pressure we had this year it will be a disaster should there be problems at Boka Auction Floors because TSF alone cannot cope," said one of the stakeholders. "We only have a few months before the opening of the 2011 season and if Zitac is to lose and they appeal then we might go for days, weeks, months or even the whole season without the floors opening," said the other stakeholder. Enditem