When appearing before Broadhurst Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, one of the founding members of BnR, Molatedi Kgotla, said the two entities had entered into a two-year contract in which BTC had agreed to sponsor BnR with P250,000 plus P18,000 worth of internet connectivity.
He also explained that the contract was supposed to run from 2019 to 2020. Kgotla said to this day, BTC is yet to pay that money. “We had a two-year agreement with BTC to sponsor our 2019 and 2020 events; the 2019 event went well without a sponsor and as the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, we as BnR proposed a virtual event to BTC with also fan parks hosting 50 people each across the country.
This was in response to the restrictions on large public gatherings due to the pandemic,” Kgotla said. Kgotla explained that BTC initially approved the proposal in a mail letter in September 2020, allowing them to move forward with planning the event. “BnR received approval to go ahead with the event from BTC through a mail letter in September.
We then proceeded to make the necessary preparations for the event, including booking artists and promoting the upcoming virtual event. However, just nine days before the event was scheduled to take place, BTC failed to honour our agreement of issuing the sponsorship. This failure to fulfil their commitments resulted in BnR being unable to sell any tickets for the event, ultimately leading to a loss of 1.5 million pula for the company,” he added.
According to the court papers, BnR is claiming judgment against the defendant to be solved in the following terms; Payment of P250,000 being the sponsorship money, payment in the sum of P18,350 for internet connectivity, compensation for the expected income in the year 2020 in the sum of P1, 500, 000 and compensation for loss of reputation in the sum of P1, 000, 000.
Furthermore, BnR also wants the court to order costs on suit attorney and own client scale, further and or alternative relief against BTC. However, in its defence, BTC is arguing that BnR was unable to meet the terms of the contract and that the agreed-upon event was impossible to execute because of the COVID-19 implications.
According to BTC, “Born and Raised failed to demonstrate how the second event was to unfold” emphasising that it is this lack of clarity the reason they ultimately did not sponsor the event. The telecommunications company argued that the uncertain nature of the event combined with the challenges posed by the global health crisis, made it unfeasible for them to uphold their agreement with BnR. “The agreement was impossible to perform even for Born and Raised themselves,” argued BTC in their court papers.
