Floton Africa withdraws court case against Shivo executives

Unguja, Zanzibar: Floton Africa Ltd has withdrawn a civil case it had filed against Shivo (SMC-Private) Company Limited and two individuals at the High Court of Zanzibar, bringing the proceedings to an end without a judicial determination of the underlying dispute.

An order issued by the High Court at Tunguu on September 3, 2026, and signed by Judge G. J. Kazi, records that the suit, Civil Case No. 87 of 2025, was withdrawn under Order XXVII Rule 1(2)(b) of the Civil Procedure Decree, Cap 8 of the Laws of Zanzibar.

The court made no order as to costs.

The case had been brought by Floton Africa against Richard Ashby, Shivo (SMC-Private) Company Limited and Christian Bonu. The plaintiff had alleged infringement of its proprietary rights in a business concept known as “Signature Nungwi”.

The withdrawal followed an earlier ruling delivered by the same court on April 15, 2026, in which Judge Kazi dismissed preliminary objections raised by the defendants challenging the maintainability of the suit.

The defendants had argued that Floton Africa had no cause of action, lacked the legal standing to institute the proceedings and that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

In its ruling, the court held that the objections raised questions of fact requiring evidence and therefore did not qualify as proper preliminary objections capable of disposing of the case at that stage.

On the alleged ownership and registration of the Signature Nungwi concept, the defendants had argued that the concept was not registered and that no enforceable rights therefore existed.

However, the court said determining whether Floton Africa held rights over the concept, whether those rights were registered and whether infringement had occurred required examination of evidence, including documents and potentially witness testimony.

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The judge consequently declined to determine those questions at the preliminary stage.

The court also considered the defendants’ argument that the plaint had been signed and verified by Godfrey Nyigu, identified as a manager of Floton Africa, without proof that he had been authorised to act on behalf of the company.

The judge held that the question of authorisation was factual and could be established through documentary or oral evidence. The ruling further observed that any defect relating to authorisation could, in appropriate circumstances, be a procedural irregularity capable of being cured.

It therefore rejected the argument that the alleged lack of authorisation automatically deprived the plaintiff of legal standing or the court of jurisdiction.

Having found that the objections did not meet the legal threshold for preliminary objections, the court dismissed them and directed that the suit proceed to a hearing on its merits.

However, the subsequent withdrawal order of September 3 brought the proceedings to an end before the court could determine the substantive allegations.

The two court orders do not establish whether the alleged proprietary rights over Signature Nungwi existed, whether infringement occurred or the reasons behind the plaintiff’s decision to withdraw the case.

The withdrawal therefore should not be interpreted as a judicial finding either confirming or disproving the allegations made in the original suit.