Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Socialite Tarisai Chikocho-Munetsiwa, better known as Madam Boss, has demanded an apology from Olive Tree Infant Academy for allegedly tarnishing her newly opened junior school, Madam Boss Kidz Corner.
This is after Olive Tree Infant Academy took legal action against Madam Boss Kids Corner administrator Jane Kasu.
Kasu resigned from Olive Tree last year but the school accused her of taking trade secrets, teaching methods and clients to Madam Boss’ school.
Madam Boss
According to H-Metro, Olive Tree Infant Academy sued Kasu for US$50 000 in damages at the same time raising allegations that Madam Boss claimed to have tarnished her reputation.
Kasu has entered an appearance to defend the suit which Madam Boss believes has been made to soil the reputation of her school.
In a letter through her lawyer, Admire Rubaya addressed to Olive Tree Infant Academy lawyers Mundia and Mudhara, Madam Boss, gave the school 48 hours to apologise and retract the claims by withdrawing the suit. Part of the letter reads:
Our client instructs us to register its displeasure and unequivocal disappointment with the contents of your client’s alleged particulars of claim which are far from focusing on the purported claim for damages, but veer into a territory that is irrelevant, inflammatory, and frankly offensive to our clients.
These attacks, targeting their teaching methods, materials and even strategic plans, are not only unfounded but also highly disrespectful.
The particulars of claim make systematic attacks to our client’s teaching methods, material, strategic operational plans as if they reflect your own ideas and that they are not products of our clients’ original ideas.
To be clear, our client has proudly developed its own educational identity from the ground up.
They have no need to imitate or borrow from any competitor, including your client.
Suggesting otherwise is not only a gross misrepresentation but also an insult to their innovation and dedication as they are not copycats.
Our clients are pacesetters and or trendsetters who thrive on originality and superior logic.
Madam Boss’ lawyers argued that the claims by Olive Tree Infant Academy emanated from a point of fear of competition. They wrote:
Your client’s fear of a “new kid on the block” based solely on the employment of a former employee who resigned in September 2022 is frankly unbecoming.
Should competition be a source of fear, then perhaps your client’s own business model needs reevaluation.
With respect, your clients are not the last borns of intelligence and business acumen neither do your clients have a monopoly over business ideas, teaching methods and strategic management skills.
Madam Boss also denied claims that she accessed Olive Tree Infant Academy’s parents database after employing their former worker. Reads the letter:
They have never accessed your alleged parents database that belongs to your clients. As such, the claim that our client accessed your client’s alleged parents database is not only baseless but also a serious accusation requiring concrete evidence.
Our client, Tarisai Chikocho-Munetsiwa, enjoys a well-deserved reputation as a respected artist and socialite.
To suggest she would engage in such tactics is not only defamatory but also a demonstrably false characterization.
Madam Boss stated that Kasu has a right to associate with anyone she wants, describing attempts to stop her as monopolistic arrogance and lack of apprehension of competition.
She also said parents have the right to choose the best educational environment for their children, suggesting that some parents may have withdrawn their children from Olive Tree Infant Academy and enrolled them at Madam Boss Kidz Corner.
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