It seems the World Trade Centre has an affinity for controversy — be it in Johannesburg or Kempton Park.
The 20-storey office tower in Sandton, featuring rooftop conferencing facilities, "private lobbies, fully fitted kitchens, luxurious bathrooms and accelerated elevators", is at the centre of a multimillion-rand legal dispute.
It was sold for R360-million. But two estate agents, Peter Collins and Omer Ginsberg, want their piece of the pie for marketing the building.
Collins and Ginsberg worked for JHI Properties, now Excellerate Property Services, when they brokered a deal four years ago to exclusively market the property to a group of selected companies — and in no time they tabled their first offer. JHI would earn a commission for a successful sale.
Trouble started when property developer Lushaka Investments initially gave Penny Brothers agency sole mandate to sell the property. Five months later it gave the sole mandate to JHI, without telling either agency what it had done. Penny Brothers sold the building to South African Corporate, one of the companies for which JHI had exclusive selling rights, for R360-million — earning R9-million commission.
JHI successfully sued Lushaka, which paid R9-million in damages. JHI took the money and refused to pay Collins and Ginsberg their commissions. A bitter lawsuit ensued in the High Court in Johannesburg, with the estate agents demanding R6.8-million plus interest from Excellerate for their work.
This week, Collins said they were disappointed in Excellerate as they had helped the company win the initial court case. "Deals like this do not come around very often. The substantial commission earned in securing the deal and bringing it in means a life-changing event," said Collins.
"It is the difference between having the means to fulfil my dreams and live a quality of life and not. It is university education for my children. Omer and I earned this award by our own means and wits and it is wholly unfair of the company to deliberately and intentionally renege on paying us our share of the award."
Collins said they would prove that they were entitled to the money. "The award was clearly as a result solely of our actions and the company has fallen into the trap of corporate greed instead of doing the right thing and paying us our share."
Ginsberg shared his sentiments.
"Until Excellerate reneged on their commitment to us, we rightfully believed and assumed we would be compensated. Naturally, this is a deeply disappointing turn of events with severe personal consequences. We now face substantial legal costs and a lengthy wait for justice to take its course. For commission-reliant individuals, this equates to life-impairing circumstances," said Ginsberg.
Excellerate CEO Marna van der Walt referred questions to the company's lawyers, Schindlers Attorneys.
The firm indicated, in a statement, that Collins and Ginsberg were not entitled to the money because it was not earned through a sale where a commission was payable — as per their contracts — but was money from a damages claim.
"We confirm that we have advised Excellerate that their defence/s against the claims in the pending litigation is/are good in fact, and in law. On the basis of the aforesaid advice, Excellerate is defending the pending litigation," the statement read.
"In light of the aforesaid, we fail to understand how the litigation should negatively impact on Excellerate's image."
A date has yet to be set for trial...