The court case between media group Sasani and Jan Barend van Wyk and his company Media Film Services SA got underway in the Cape Town High Court yesterday. Sasani is claiming R37 million, plus interest, from Van Wyk for allegedly breaking the terms of a restraint of trade agreement he signed with The Movie Camera Company, which Sasani acquired in 1997 and of which Van Wyk was MD until January 2000, when he left to start Media Film Services SA. Sasani alleges that Van Wyk arranged funding for Media Film Services SA in 1999, when he was still in Sasani's employ, that he took valuable staff members with him when he left, and that he was instrumental in major suppliers ending the sole agency agreements that they had with the Movie Camera Company. Van Wyk contests the claim.
