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Khama v. Debswana Diamond Co. (Pty) Ltd 2000 (1) BLR 31 (HC) In the case of Khama v. Debswana Diamond Co. (Pty) Ltd, the plaintiff, Mrs. Khama, sought damages of P12,500 for breach of a lease agreement with the defendant. The issue arose when Khama appointed an estate agent, Richard Ellis Fleetwood-Bird (Pty) Ltd., to find a tenant for her property. The defendant's employee, Mr. Lisindi, accepted an offer to rent the property, subject to approval from Debswana's group secretary, Mr. Matome, who had the final authority to sign lease agreements. The defendant declined to proceed with the lease, citing defects in the house discovered after an inspection, which led to the refusal of Matome to sign the lease. The plaintiff contended that the correspondence between the estate agent and Lisindi constituted a valid lease agreement. However, the defendant argued that Lisindi lacked the authority to bind the company, and it was well known to the estate agent that only the group secretary could finalize such agreements. The court held that no binding contract was formed because the plaintiff, through her estate agents, was aware that Lisindi had no authority to sign the lease. Moreover, the final agreement required the signature of the group secretary, and without that, the lease could not be valid. As a result, the court dismissed Khama's claim, ruling that no lease agreement existed between the parties, and she was ordered to pay costs. The court adopted a subjective approach in determining the intention of the parties. The court held that a contract can only be founded on the existence of a genuine concurrence of wills of the contracting parties. The court stated that the intention of each party to make and reach an agreement with the other is essential to the formation of a contract. It noted that where to the knowledge of the other contracting party, the party sought to be bound was not intending to reach an agreement for one reason or another no agreement or contract could be reached