A Grobler Park pensioner, Boikanyo Lucky Mogase is not a happy man after his dream of opening a restaurant was allegedly ruined by his potential landlord.
Mogase told the Record that he was scheduled to open his restaurant in the Roodepoort CBD in December but the plan fell through as the building for which he had paid a deposit had a sewer problem.
“I wanted to open a restaurant on 1 December 2018 with the intention to sell traditional cuisine. I then paid R7 000 to the building owner Mike Parnasso – with whom I had a verbal agreement – as part of the deposit for renting the shop,” he explained.
However, Mogase said the deal went sour because there was a sewage spill on the premises, which was not healthy for the potential business. “The sewerage problem became a deal-breaker, but he refused to pay back my money,” he said.
“I took the matter to the Small Claims Court where I lost the case because of insufficient evidence,” he said. He challenged the ruling, claiming that the text messages between him and Parnasso weren’t used as proof.
The Record has copies of some of the conversations between the two parties. We contacted Parnasso who defended himself by accusing Mogase of lying. “We both went to the Small Claims Court and he lost. The man is lying through his teeth. He still owes me R200 000 for breaching our two-year lease contract,” Parnasso said.
Mogase, who had invested a lot of money on the business by purchasing a bakkie and large pots for cooking, said he will be taking the matter to the High Court.
