Judge rules in favour of the anti-Cell C banner
FAIRLAND– A South Gauteng High Court has ruled that George Prokas expressed his opinion and the board is allowed by law to stay up.
South Africa’s third largest cellphone provider lost the battle to have the anti-Cell C banner removed from the wall of World Wear Shopping centre.
“It appears that the damage – if any – has already been done,” said Judge Sharise Weiner on 13 November.
Weiner ruled that the board should stay up adding that Cell C misused the court’s rules by bringing forward an urgent application.
Judge Weiner added that Cell C should have brought the application on 23 October when George Prokas, who is responsible for setting it up, first threatened to do so.
According to the Judge, Prokas expressed his fair opinion on the banner.
Cell C’s application was dismissed with costs.
Prokas put up the banner at the shopping centre situated on the Corner of Beyer Naudé Drive and Wilson Street following months of attempting to get help from the Cell C Sandton City branch.
The dispute arose from a phone Prokas had taken up for his son with Cell C in 2013.
The phone’s indicated number turned out to belong to and was being used by a different person who ran up a bill of over R5 000.
Prokas subsequently ended the stop-order for the phone in October last year.
However, when attempting to buy a car earlier in 2014, Prokas discovered he was listed as a bad debtor as a result of the unpaid R5 000 from Cell C.
Prokas expressed his frustrations by putting up a banner that read The most useless service provider in SA- Cell C Sandton City…
Below this message written in Cell C branding colours is the cellphone number of Cell C’s franchise manager Riaan van Rooyen.
The banner cost Prokas over R60 000.
The banner in question was subsequently vandalised. As it stands, the banner reads, The most useful service provider in SA as experienced via Cell C Sandton City.
The franchise manager Riaan van Rooyen’s cellphone number – which had been written in Cell C branding colours – was replaced with We love Cell C.
It is not known who altered the banner.
I got an extra cell provider on top of my MTN , cell a year agoo and have been spammed in my inbox with hundreds of businesses advertising in my inbox. i eventually cancelled cell C and only use MTN as service provider who do not sell your phone number to companies to spam you