KWV deal questioned

Cape Town - It is unclear how, five years ago, a private company with only three shareholders got hold of an indirect stake in KWV, apparently under the cloak of Nafu (the National African Farmers' Union) Western Cape.

Nafu Western Cape did not respond to enquiry about the connection or relationship between itself and the company Nafgri.

KWV itself could not throw light on how a company with only three apparent beneficiaries (the shareholders) acquired the stake that was initially declared to be that of a broad-based empowerment group.

Nafu Western Cape's opaque handling of the KWV interest gave rise to questions from its members two years ago and contributed to a motion of no confidence in management.

Concern arose after it became evident that Nafu Western Cape planned to sell its stake.

The confusion rippled outwards when it was established that Nafu Western Cape was in fact not a shareholder in Phetogo, the holder of the direct empowerment stake in KWV.

Sake24 had previously established that the interest initially attributed to Nafu Western Cape was owned by Zamori, a company whose name was subsequently changed and is now Nafgri.

If no real relationship exists between Nafgri and Nafu Western Cape, one can conclude that in 2004 the public was misinformed about the empowerment deal by KWV and its empowerment partner.

In 2004 KWV's head office in Paarl had declared Nafu Western Cape to be a broad-based empowerment group within Phetogo (as it also indicated in statements and other official documents). In the official circular sent by the Phetogo Consortium to KWV's shareholders before acquiring its stake, Nafu was described as representing labour and emerging farmers in the agricultural and wine industries of the Western Cape.

Now, in contrast, the latest prospectus sent to KWV shareholders simply states that Zamori is one of the shareholders in Phetogo.

The management of Nafu Western Cape (headed by Willie Williams, when he was still chairperson) previously told Sake24 that in 2004 the organisation had been advised that the empowerment deal would be a "for-profit" transaction, and had therefore been registered as a company.

Nafgri in fact dates back to June 2004. Jan de Koker, Williams (still a Nafgri director on Phetogo's board) and Augustinus Hendricks, the current president of Nafu Western Cape, were appointed as directors in September 2004.

At that time they intimated the existence of agreements stipulating that Nafgri was holding the shares on behalf of the members of Nafu Western Cape, and that Nafu Western Cape's constitution was clear as to how they should be employed.

This week, in a conversation with Hendricks, it was discovered that Nafgri had only three shareholders (the above three directors).

He said the proceeds of the stake (which has recently been sold) have been placed into the trust account of Nafgri's attorneys, Webber Wentzel, from which money would apparently be paid over each month to Nafu for that organisation's operational requirements. "It's not for the three of us to pocket," he said. He also said that Nafgri's shareholders decide how the money should be used. "To date the Nafgri shareholders have donated large sums to Nafu to keep the business healthy."

It was made clear that Nafu and Nafgri were two separate entities.

- Sake24.com

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