Two young entrepreneurs who sued the National Youth Development Agency for R36-million were left speechless yesterday when they were ordered to pay the agency R500000 for costs incurred as a result of the lawsuit.
Johannesburg High Court Judge Fayeeza Kathree-Setiloane ruled that the two men - Samuel Tsolo, 27 and James Zwane, 25, who own software company Wintelligent Technology - could not continue with their lawsuit until they had paid security for costs.
She further ruled that, in the event of the security not being finalised timeously, or at all, the agency be granted leave to make an application for the dismissal of the pair's lawsuit.
She also ordered the two men to pay for the agency's costs for this application.
In March, the pair lodged a R36-million lawsuit against the agency after it had reneged on a deal to fund its IT project.
The agency undertook in writing on December 14 2009 to fund the project but later withdrew.
The NYDA ask ed the two men in May to furnish them with security for costs after realising that the software company had never traded. The NYDA said it feared that it would not be able to recover its costs from the pair should it win the court action.
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