TUESDAY, 8.30AM
The black American investors who put some $50-million behind Pepsi’s return to South Africa, have threatened to call a US boycott of Pepsi after the soft drink giant’s decision to pull out of South Africa.
New Age Beverages, the local bottling company owned by the Afro-Americans along with South African union partners, has filed bankruptcy papers, prompting Pepsi to quit its losing fight to break into the South African market against Coca-Cola.
The group of wealthy black American backers, who include OJ Simpson’s lawyer Johnnie Cochrane, believe that Pepsi still has a viable future in South Africa, and are “holding discussions at the highest corporate level” with Pepsi. They have also sent a team to South Africa to review the situation here.
Following reports yesterday that NAB had not paid employees’ contributions to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, the company administering NAB’s UIF contributions announced that all payments are up to date and retrenched NAB staff will be able to claim from the fund.