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Siqokoqela Mphoko and his father, former Zimbabwe vice president, Phelekezela Mphoko, owned 51% of Choppies Enterprises in Zimbabwe according to the country’s indigenisation law.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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Zimbabwean businessman, Siqokoqela Mphoko, has gone to the Bulawayo High Court to apply for an anti-dissipation interdict against multinational groceries retailer, Choppies Enterprises.

Choppies has decided to disinvest and jettison the Zimbabwean market and is selling its stores to Pintail Trading (Private) Limited which is owned by Raj Modi – the country’s Industry and Commerce deputy minister.

The Botswana registered company has already left South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, but has gone stronger in Namibia and Zambia where it has 18 and 26 stores – respectively.

It claims that it is leaving Zimbabwe as supermarket chains struggle to come to terms with the unstable Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency, high inflation and foreign exchange shortages.

However, Mphoko who is the son of the country’s late vice-president, Phelekezela Mphoko, is opposing the Choppies and Modi deal on the grounds that he has a pending claim against the retailer in court pertaining to the payment of a full amount of his shares.

The Mphokos held 51% of Choppies, according to the country’s indigenisation law, and they have been claiming to be paid the full value of their shareholding following a fall-out with the Botswana registered company.

Mphoko and his father had sued Choppies for US$22 585 714 (R414.9 million), for true value of their 51% shareholding, and the matter has still not yet gone on trial. It appears that Mphoko senior had abandoned the case before his death in December last year.

Mphoko is demanding his 25.5% shares worth about R220 million.

He fears that he will have nothing to claim if the sale goes ahead as there will be no assets left because Choppies is registered in Botswana.

“In exiting the Zimbabwean market, the 2^nd respondent (Choppies Enterprises) gave a reason that trading in Zimbabwe was difficult because of the competition faced from the informal sector. I am unable to agree,” Mphoko said in his affidavit.

“This is not the first time the 2^nd respondent has exited a market, leaving a trail of debt. The 2^nd respondent exited South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique leaving trails of debt in those jurisdictions. It cannot be that in those markets informal traders besieged the 2^ndrespondent.”

The retailer left South Africa in 2019. It had 200 stores in SA, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Mphoko added that the loss of regional markets by Choppies pointed to shrinking income. “Other than the interdict I seek, I have no other remedy,” he said.

Mphoko said in his court application that an amount of US$12million (R220.5 million) should be condign for his claim, interest and reasonable costs.

Mphoko’s dispute with Choppies started in 2019 when the retailer’s former chairman and former Botswana president, Festus Mogae, insisted that the Mphokos shareholding was 7% and they were given the shares free of charge.

Father and son accepted US$2.9 million (R53.2 million) payment from Choppies.  However, their lawyer, Welshman Ncube, who represented them in the dispute allegedly withheld $1.4 million (R25.7 million) of the $2.9 million settlement.

The Mphokos have denied that they were given shares for free and said that they borrowed $20 million from Choppies through their company, Nanavac Investment, which would be paid on “revenue from the trading activity” for six months.

Hence, Mphoko continues to fight for payment equivalent to the full shares he believes he owned according to the Indigenisation Act.