The South African government signed the sale agreement for 75% of the state Komatiland Forest assets, which will place R396-million in the fiscus, at a ceremony in Pretoria on Wednesday.
This follows the Cabinet’s announcement in December to appoint Bonheur as the preferred bidder.
Bonheur is 70% made up of Global Forest Products, a forest products company headquartered in Sabie, South Africa and 30% made up by Imbokodvo Lemabalaba Forestry, which is 100% owned by Imbokodvo Lemabalabala Holdings.
The latter is owned by Koti Investments (30%) and the Traditional Authorities Investment Company (70%), representing about 10Â 000 individual community members.
Signatories to the agreement were the Department of Public Enterprises, Safcol and Bonheur consortium representatives.
Under the sale agreement, the government will retain a 25% ownership in the form of a trust, 10% of which will be held by a community trust and 9% by employees, with Safcol retaining the remaining 6%.
An annual lease rental, of R14-million, will be paid to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry.
Public Enterprises Minister Jeff Radebe described the deal “as a victory for broad-based empowerment, particularly for the communities in and around the forest”. — I-Net Bridge