In a case decided in the South African High Court on Monday 20th November 2000, Acting Justice Tip firmly dismissed an application by Indus International Inc., against SGA Integrators (Pty) Ltd., with costs. It follows from the reasons in his judgement, that Indus International had absolutely no right whatsoever, to dictate to SGA subsequent to its distribution agreement having ended. Furthermore, on Indus`s second claim of unlawful competition, corroborated by their new local distributor, ICL SA (Pty) Ltd., the judge referred to this allegation as mere `speculative anxiety`. SGA had clearly not secured any unfair advantage nor had it competed unlawfully. It would seem as though SGA had been the target of a sustained attempt to take control of its established market and client base by Indus and its new local distributor, ICL SA. Had Indus been successful in its application, it may well have caused havoc in the client base, by downgrading the locally available resource pool for the FYI product set.
CEO of the SGA Group, Rob Gillespie, says that he expected nothing less from the South African or any other legal system, stating that it was high time that companies got on with the business of ensuring that the clients received the best possible service for which they were paying. He also said that it appeared to be a distinctly South African business trait, particularly in the IT sector, to `fudge` the reality, and often prey upon other companies successes, instead of creating their own. "Followers will never be leaders", he said, "and unless they learn to look beyond their immediate surroundings, they will never be able to compete successfully on a global scale". He added that South African companies were becoming acutely aware of foreign based suppliers attempting to prey upon the local market, without having any real form of local accountability or presence. Gillespie commented that their South African client base had applauded the court`s decision, adding that a number of them had advised him that they were already preparing cases against Indus and its new local distributor, ICL SA.
SGA, a significant player in the electronic document management, workflow and portal tool marketplace, and proudly South African, supplies, installs and supports the FYI product suite from the USA. It has more importantly, developed major enhancements to the FYI product, which are now available on a worldwide basis, and has recently released Dejevu, the first fully South African designed and developed, true browser based Portal Tool set. SGA has many blue chip clients in South Africa, and has already established an international distribution channel via its associate, Global Process Automation. More details can be obtained from the SGA website, www.sgaintegrators.com.
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