MUTINTA MULAYE WRITES
A local court in Lusaka has thrown out a case in which a landlord was claiming a K3, 000 balance on rentals on his shop.
Paul Mwanza, of Kabanana Site and Service sued Royd Kachali, of Ngombe Township in the Boma Local Court, claiming that the latter agreed to pay him K9, 000 for his shop but has only cleared K6, 000 todate.
Mr Mwanza told senior local court magistrate Ng’andu Mukuka that Mr Kachili and him made an agreement that he (Mr Kachali) pays K9, 000 and uses his shop for 11 months but that he had only cleared K6, 000 of the amount.
“He has been staying in my shop for about 11 months. The initial agreement is that he would pay me a total of K9, 000 as rentals but I’ve only received K6, 000 from him from the time he entered my shop,” Mr Mwanza said.
“He’s being difficult because of the metal bars be put that I clearly watrned him against putting them. That is his own cost. He told me he wanted to put them to protect his property but I told him not to do so,” he said.
But Kachali denied ever owing Mr Mwanza any balance over the shop because he already spent K2, 800 on fixing the door and burglar bars.
“There were some blocks needed. I spent K125 and K70 on transport. Another K300 was used on electricity. There was no roof so in total that was another K4, 000. The council closed the shop so I had to pay K1, 000 ground rates,” he said.
He said from January to June, he also used to pay Mr Mwanza K500 as rentals and sometimes even more according to what Mr Mwanza asked for.
“I once told him we would have such problems ahead because the money I was spending on fixing the shop was accumulating and that we should calculate and make a proper agreement,” he said.
“One time he just sent me a message saying he’s found someone to replace me and that he was going to refund me,” he said.
After scrutiny, the court dismissed Mr Mwanza’s claim saying he had failed to provide enough evidence that Mr Kachali owed him the K3, 000.
