BusinessLive reports that Shoprite Checkers has successfully restrained a former employee from working for competitor Clicks after the court ruled the company had the right to protect confidential information the worker would have had access to.

Design planner Tebogo Kgatle’s contract with Shoprite included a restraint of trade clause, which he believed should not have applied when he sought employment at Clicks. The Western Cape High Court disagreed, ruling on Wednesday that Kgatle’s senior position at Shoprite gave him access to precisely the kind of confidential information that the company had every right to protect. Before employing Kgatle in 2021, Shoprite had given Kgatle a bursary to obtain an honours degree from Stellenbosch University. He became one of only 14 design planners who reported directly to the department head. Kgatle resigned in April 2023, stating he was underpaid and saw no prospects for advancing. He obtained an employment offer from Clicks to start shortly after his resignation. As a result of going to a direct competitor, Shoprite instituted proceedings to restrain him from doing so. Kgatle argued the restraint was unfair because he had given an undertaking not to disclose anything to Clicks. Judge Derek Wille noted that by giving the undertaking, Kgatle had basically “conceded that [Shoprite] gave him access to [its] confidential information”. The judge granted the relief to enforce the restraint against Kgatle in favour of Shoprite and Kgatle cannot work at Clicks for at least a year.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tauriq Moosa at BusinessLive
• Read too, You can't take a Shoprite bursary, sign a restraint, then work for Clicks, court chides young man, at Fin24

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