Nicola Mawson
As a legal battle between Oasis Water Holdings and a former franchisee continue over alleged breach of contract by Oasis, with court papers running into the hundreds of pages, the prepared water company’s CEO and founder has announced his departure on his LinkedIn account.
About three weeks ago, Naas du Preez, Oasis Water Holdings director and founder said on his LinkedIn page, “after a journey of almost 19 years as the founder and director of Oasis Water Holdings, I’ve decided that this exciting chapter of my life has come to an end”.
Du Preez added that he had achieved his goals, will remain a shareholder, and had already handed over his responsibilities in “an orderly manner before formally leaving Oasis on 30 September 2024”.
Meanwhile, a legal argument over whether a former franchisee who claims a breach of contract against Oasis can continue to sell purified water under the name MANZI Water is going to the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) and is set to be heard in the first half of next year.
The legal matter dates back to February last year and has already been through three judges that each arrived at different conclusions.
Last year, on behalf of a former Oasis franchisee, trademark and patent attorneys Smit & van Wyk sent a letter to Oasis’ attorneys, Adams & Adams. This letter alleged that Oasis was competing with its own franchises and was set to terminate agreements “for immaterial breaches” in a bid to move to a new operating model.
Because of these alleged issues, the company that is now MANZI Water was entitled to cancel the agreement and agreed to remove Oasis Water trademarks and signage and not make use of any confidential information it gleaned from Oasis, the letter said. There are 26 franchise agreements involved, representing 75 water outlets, as outlined in Smit & van Wyk’s letter.
According to its website, Oasis has more than 360 stores across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Eswatini.
In one case, with the judgement having been handed down last May by the Mahikeng High Court in the North West province, the judge found that the bottles, tables, and layout of Oasis’ stores were not unique to that company. The court also found that the water purification system and solution was sourced by the franchisees and Oasis did not provide the system, and so had no claim to a secret formula.
“Nothing in the evidence suggests that Oasis Water as claimed by it, is an elixir distinguishable from purified water sold by many of the other water stores trading under various trade names,” read the judgement.
As a result, Oasis failed to secure an interim interdict to stop MANZI from operating.
In another judgement handed down by the Pretoria High Court, also last May, the judge ruled that, as a matter of urgency, the purification system was to be returned, while all and any links to Oasis Holdings were to be removed from the outlets.
Alfred Challis, CEO of MANZI Water, told Business Report that: “three judges in the High Courts have considered almost identical sets of facts in this regard, and each arrived at different conclusions. However, leave to appeal was granted by all three judges, which underscores the significance of the matter.”
Challis explained that the appeal heading to the SCA hinged on several aspects, including Oasis imposing new business strategies that were not part of the original franchise agreements.
He said this placed the franchisees in financially unsustainable positions and claimed there was conflict of interest in which Oasis bought a competition brand – GoZone – and made allegations of mismanagement of the marketing fund in that franchisees contributed to the fund but had no visibility as to how it was spent.
MANZI also stated that “Oasis Water does not possess any trade secrets, confidential information, or other intellectual property (excluding its trademarks) that holds commercial value”.
Challis added that MANZI Water was confident that the SCA will address these issues fairly.
“The former franchisees, now operating as MANZI Water, are committed to moving forward with their business, built on principles of fairness, transparency, and community engagement. They believe that their new venture will offer a positive alternative in the market, aligning with ethical business practices,” said Challis.
Several attempts to contact Oasis for comment, both directly and through its lawyers, were unsuccessful.