SAVE OUR GARDENS
Garden owners sued for refunds since wedding celebrations stopped Decor equipment lies idle - auctioned by debtors
Covid-19 has left event gardens empty and desolate while proprietors have to contend with hefty bills and legal suits from clients and customers for unfulfilled promises.
The situation is so bleak for the once lucrative business that some garden owners cannot even pay mortgages let alone staff salaries. Many have had to swallow the bitter pill and let their experienced workers go.
All these, thanks to the cancellation of wedding celebrations and other outdoor activities such as birthdays and baby showers last year March in an effort to control the spread of the novel Corona Virus pandemic.
At that time some garden owners already had bookings running into the year 2021.
Clients had paid for services and were expecting lavish ceremonies. But more than a year later, everything remains grounded.
Owners of Tashy’s Royal Gardens, Tshepo and Khumo Keakile, told this publication that the future was indeed bleak for garden owners. Their once beautiful garden is no longer as attractive as it used to be as the means to aid that have gone dry.
Their wide range of animals and birds such as Australian emus and ducks that made the environment lively and refreshing are no more. Some have died while others have mysteriously disappeared because of inactivity.
Their big plans to develop their garden have been halted by lack of income. Maintaining the lawn does not come cheap. They have to spend from their pockets yet they have no other source of income.
“We invested everything here, we are full time here. This means that all expenses have to be paid by this garden including our own salaries and that of staff but there is no money,” Tshepo added.
At the time of putting a stop to everything last year, Tashy’s Gardens had just made a large order of lavish wedding decor equipment.
The equipment is still stuck in their warehouse and wrapped in boxes. The gold-laced tables and chairs seen by this publication have never been used.
“We are still paying for it all, the bank needs its money but we have nothing. Before Covid-19, business
was doing well and we were confident we would be able to pay back the monies.”
Adding to their worries are the impatient clients who are demanding their monies back including by threatening litigation.
“We find ourselves in impossible situations, clients want their monies back but it is not possible. We are down as it is and have no means of repaying whoever had paid a deposit or full amount,” Tshepo said.
Muller Keganne of Lemuller’s Gardens in Mogoditshane said Covid-19 messed up his plans. He is new in the business and had hoped that by now he would be fully operational.
“My garden was meant to be a wedding venue. Now my investments have not paid off because there is no business coming in. Farms are now becoming popular because people go on and hide in the bushes away from the eyes of authorities,” Keganne cried.
He said as things stand, only the brave go ahead to break the law by accepting to host wedding celebrations demanded by some couples, hoping not to get caught.
As for Kumbulani Palalani of Top High Events Garden in Gabane, his garden is still in good condition because he uses the money from his other job to maintain it.
“This is the legacy of my dead wife and son, they are the ones who began this dream back in 2012 and I just continued where they left off.”
He told The Midweek Sun that by March last year, he was already fully booked for the entire year until February 2021.
“When someone comes to us, their date is only secured after they have paid
an agreed deposit fee, meaning that all those that you see in this document paid P3000 or more,” Palalani said.
After everything was stopped last year, out of the goodness of his heart, Palalani told his customers that he would do everything possible to pay them back. “I went out and asked my colleagues in the gardens industry how they will be handling the unfortunate situation we find ourselves in and all said they will not be paying back their customers.
“I decided to differ but told my clients that I am not forced to because already the contracts we signed are clear that refund can only be given in the unfortunate case of one spouse dying or their immediate family member.”
Palalani has already begun paying back some and is still left with others. “I will do my best but because there is nothing happening, I am really not doing much for now,” he said.
Mpho Kebakile of Bon Femme Gardens in Metsimotlhabe was forced to move into her unfinished house in Metsimotlhabe because she could not afford to be in the city anymore. She even sold some of her properties because she had debts to pay. She admitted that many garden owners are depressed.
“Our chairs and tents are being auctioned to the highest bidder. The situation is getting uglier by the day. I live in an unfinished house. All I had to do was make it habitable. My floor is covered in green carpets that I use for business,” Kebakile said.
She said they are doing almost anything for survival and hoping that government will find a way to bail them out.
“They once opened for 50 people attendance and it was a drop in the ocean for us because we used to do events
hosting over 300 people. The 50 people quota was unable to reconcile existing debts as clients still wanted what they paid for.”
She said that many of their customers are demanding that they deliver on their promises. “Others had booked for
baby showers but are now mothers, it’s all a headache.”
She explained that clients threaten them all the time and that they now live in constant fear of Sheriffs since they have not been able to pay mortgages for some time now.