battle
Jim Day
A JOHANNESBURG marketing company is fighting the Airports Company Ltd (ACL)for damages incurred after the parastatal vrestricted business relating to the rugby World Cup.
On April 15 the ACL regulator will hear the case between the parastatal and tiny Airport World Sales (AWS), which claims practices by ACL cost it R950000 in lost profits by denying it access to sell rugby memorabilia at Johannesburg International Airport. Director Gary Burns also claims AWS spent about R100 000 preparing its case against ACL.
In May 1996, the regulating committee found that ACL had “transgressed” a law stating the parastatal must ensure it does not engage in restrictive practices. The violation involved ACL’s stipulation to the Stellenbosch Rugby Club, which held the rights to sell rugby World Cup memorabilia at the airport, that it could only transfer those rights to existing airport vendors.
That stipulation precluded AWS – which was not an existing vendor – from selling the rugby products, even though Burns claims the company had secured the rights from Stellenbosch. The club later agreed to retail the memorabilia through Fedics, one of the major vendors at the airport.
AWS wants ACL to pay more than R1-million; ACL officials believe the settlement should be more in the area of R30 000, says one source close to the negotiations. This is the first time the regulatory committee has had to decide a monetary settlement in a dispute involving ACL.