Makhadzi finally breaks her silence in light of the sneaker brand Kicks Kokovha’s CEO Sammy Mhaule’s R8.2 million lawsuit against her.
Mhaule is suing Makhadzi, real name Ndivhudzannyi Ralivhona, and her production company Open Mic for breaching partnership agreements, which include wearing the brand’s sneakers during performances and promoting the brand on her social media platforms.
According to Sunday World reports, Makhadzi failed to honour the contract, resulting in Mhaule claiming damages of over R8.2m.
“The partner agrees that the brand participates in a number of activities arranged by Kicks Sportswear.
“This includes participation through a series of social media posts both on Kicks Sportswear’s social media account and also on Makhadzi social media account, event appearances, speaking engagements and media interviews, following guidelines as set out by the corporation and its agencies,” read the agreement.
According to the legal documents as reported by the publication, Mhaule is claiming damage for “the units of shoes in the warehouse being 6 900 pairs, less 20 pairs, sold in Limpopo, thus being 6 880 shoes at the retail price they would have sold for if first and second defendants did not breach the partnership agreement, thus amounting to R8 249 120.
“But yet again due to the breach caused by the first and second defendants, the plaintiff suffered a tremendous financial loss of R379 921, which invoices was attached to the letter of demand that was sent on the 6th of May 2022.”
In the press statement issued by her legal representative, advocate Nkateko Maluleke, Makhadzi is refuting all the claims levelled against her and Open Mic Productions .
“Following media reports in a Sunday newspaper this week, Open Mic Productions wishes to place on record that the complainant failed to keep his end of the bargain and was actually in breach of his contractual obligations from day one,” read the statement.
“The complainant makes some gross and unsubstantiated claims in his summons which we would like to dismiss as falsehoods, fabrications and misrepresentation of how the events unfolded.”
In the statement, Maluleke explained that Makhadzi signed a R120m deal with sportswear brand Kicks Sports Agreement in October 2021.
“The supplier insisted that we launch the Kokhovha Kicks footwear even when we had concerns that the peak festive shopping season was looming and we had no stock in hand.
“Stock never arrived in the agreed 90 days. It wasn’t until February 2022 that 6900 shoes were received. Several attempts were made by Open Mic Productions to assist the supplier to honour the obligation of delivering the goods. In terms of the contract, the complainant was to provide 8000 pairs of shoes on a monthly basis and that has not happened to this date.”
In their statement, Makhadzi and her team explained that they hosted an event in Makhado to promote the brand, adding that (they) managed to sell several pairs of the sneaker brand.
“Immediately after the Makhado activation, the complainant stopped taking our calls and refused to participate in planning meetings or any engagements relating to the project.
“A few weeks later we received a lawyers’ letter in April. In an attempt to rescue the project, we asked for a meeting with the complainant without the lawyers.
“At this meeting, it was agreed that we will attempt to jointly salvage the situation. Instead of a meaningful engagement with the complainant, we received summons plus particulars of the claim.
“Even at this stage, we reached out to the complainant and his lawyers to see if we could save the project considering that the agreement was to lapse in a few months, but the discussions did not yield any meaningful results.
“We are puzzled by his claim of R8m considering that Makhadzi has lost earnings due to the fact that she had exclusivity tied to the deal and as such missed other opportunities.
“We did everything we could to help the situation. The rights of Open Mic Productions remain reserved in this regard and if it means litigation, we are ready,” added the statement.