The High Court, Commercial Division Judge, Ken Manda has ordered Yamaha Motor Company Limited of Japan to continue honoring its contractual obligation with Stansfield Motors Limited as per an injunction the court granted earlier.
According to the order delivered on February 6, 2024, the court has further restricted Yamaha, through its South African distributor Turning Fork (Pty) Limited to execute the termination of its contract with Stansfield and enter into a new one with Paramount Holdings Limited.
According to court documents which we have seen, Turning Fork (Pty) Limited stopped attending to Stansfield orders after the client obtained an injunction against the termination of the contract on January 11, 2024.
The South African company argued that it stopped honoring the orders because it was not covered by the injunction, which forced Stansfield, through lawyer Edgar Kachere, sought further clarification from the court.
In the fresh order, justice Manda explained that the sole distributorship agreement with Stansfield and Turning Fork is still operational.
“An order is hereby made clarifying that the order of interim injunction granted herein as follows: that when the said order stated that the 1 defendant (Yamaha Motor Company Limited) (is restrained from putting into effect the purported termination of its the sole distributorship agreement with the claimant (Stansfield), it means that the 1 defendant’s sole distributorship with the claimant is still subsisting.
“That when the said order stated that the 1 defendant is restrained, whether by itself or by its servants or agents, or otherwise howsoever, this includes agents like Tuning Fork (Pty) Limited and whoever other intermediaries there may be, through whom the claimant acquires the 1 defendant’s products for distribution in Malawi. Consequently, it is directed that Tuning Fork (Pty) Limited must ensure that it is honouring the claimant’s orders for the 1 defendant’s products without any further delay,” reads part of the order
Luthando Holdings Limited, Actor Import and Export Investments Limited and Stansfield Motors Services Limited joined the case as interested parties.
