Spar Arundel evicted

Published: 10 June 2013

INNSCOR Africa Limited has been evicted from its Arundel Spar supermarket premises after allegedly failing to abide by terms of the lease agreement.

The diversified manufacturing and retail conglomerate was last Friday thrown out by the Messenger of Court, accompanied by the owner's legal representative Mr Jonathan Samkange Jr of Venturas and Samkange.

Mr Samkange, would however, not shed light on the specific terms of the lease Spar had breached, but indicated he was working on an order given by the owner of the premises, Mr Travlos.

"These people failed to comply with terms of the lease agreement and are simply being evicted, they failed to reach an understanding with the landlord, the property is owned by Travlos".

Efforts to get a comment from Spar Corporate Stores chief executive Mr Andrew Divaris were not successful by the time of going to print.

Arundel Spar general manager, whose name was only given as Ms Mutsekwa, refused to comment and referred questions to Mr Divaris.

The supermarket chain had promised to issue a statement to explain what had transpired, but had not done so by end of business on Friday.

Arundel Spar workers who spoke to Herald Business on condition of anonymity said the stock from the closed shop would be moved to Groombridge Spar and Spar Distribution Centre.

While no official position could be obtained on how many workers, contract and permanent, were affected following the eviction workers at Arundel Spar put the figure at an estimated figure of 140.

Stock worth thousands of dollars was strewn all over an open space in the southern entrance of the Arundel Business Park and some of it was damaged and the contents spilled all over during eviction.

Hordes of clearly devastated workers milled around while others moved stock from the shop as the messenger barked orders.

It is not yet clear what the fate of workers, especially those on contract, would be following the eviction of Spar from the Arundel premises.

Multitudes of Arundel Spar customers were also clearly disappointed to be greeted by banners inscribed "Spar closed" at the main entrance and were directed to go to Groombridge Spar about 20 minutes walking distance from the closed supermarket.

In Zimbabwe, Spar is made up of 10 corporate stores and 70 independent operators. Spar Zimbabwe falls under Innscor Franchising Limited, which is run by Innscor Africa Limited.

Innscor Africa is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and also has operations in Swaziland, Zambia, Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Nigeria.
- herald