Matter between pilot, businessman wraps up

THE civil matter between a Nelson Mandela Bay pilot and mining magnate Kobus Smit wrapped up in the Port Elizabeth High Court as counsel for both parties presented their closing arguments yesterday.

Rod Crichton, who runs Ebhayi Charter Air in Theescombe, dragged Smit to court after claiming he did not honour an oral employment agreement by which Crichton would render aircraft piloting services to Smit's JP Smit Family Trust for a period of five years, starting from April 2008.

But Smit said the agreement was that Crichton would only be on the trust's payroll for three years and that he and Crichton also altered their arrangement following challenges the trust's string of companies encountered as a result of the economic crisis in 2009. -