Pretoria - Hoërskool Langenhoven’s governing body is at loggerheads with its former principal and erstwhile Springbok hooker, Willie Kahts, who owns a pub on its premises.
The 15-member committee, led by James Sarela, is calling for the immediate shutdown of the watering hole, which has been operational for over a decade.
The business includes a bar and restaurant and hosts occasional functions on the lawn area in front of the pavilion.
Sarela alleged that Kahts obtained part of the school grounds maliciously while he was still the principal. “He hijacked part of the school and built a bar and restaurant,” Sarela said.
But Kahts maintained he was the lawful owner of the property and was entitled to exercise his rights over it. He told the Pretoria News: “I’ve been running this business for 15 years and if the governing body has a problem, they must deal with me directly. I have nothing further to say on the matter.”
Previously, he had asked the court not to interdict him from starting his business activities on the property.
In 2009, the governing body argued that part of the school property was unlawfully transferred into Kahts’s name while he was still heading the school.
After a lengthy court battle, the governing body won the case against Kahts and the school got full ownership of the premises.
The Pretoria News has seen an order stating that Kahts should give unencumbered transfer of land to the school.
The school and governing body were ordered by the high court to pay R650 000 of Kahts’s outstanding mortgage bond.
Kahts then got a verbal agreement from the former chairman of the governing body to rent the premises for R5 000 a month.
But Sarela said: “There is no signed lease agreement between Kahts and governing body, thus we want him out. He is still running the bar illegally and we feel that this matter must be resolved. If not, learners will abuse alcohol, and this will damage their learning capacity and tarnish our image.”
The business is on the western side of the school and fenced off from the rest of the buildings.
It also sells food and snacks and is open to the general public.
Sarela said members of the governing body were planning to stage a sit-in at the bar in order to evict Kahts.
He said the time had come for Kahts to shut down as he had been given enough time to venture into another business.
Departmental spokeswoman Pumla Sekhonyane said it had come to their attention that the old governing body allowed Kahts to set up and conduct the business. This, she said, was in contravention of the Liquor Act.
Sekhonyane said governing bodies could supplement resources, but funds raised should benefit the school. However, such initiatives should not be to the detriment of the pupils or school.
“We have instructed the State attorney to attend to the matter, and that the 2009 judgment was complied with,” said Sekhonyane.
Pretoria News