By Levi Mhaka
Published on March 1, 2007
A fertiliser saga was published on (http://levi-mhaka.blogspot.com/2008/03/from-whom-did-gono-buy-fertilizer.html)
On 27 February 2007, ZBC TV news reported that a South African commodity company, Profert Pty Ltd has supplied fertiliser to Zimbabwe. (The story was surprisingly ignored by the Herald.)
Profert Pty Ltd was registered in May 2003 as a joint-venture company of Senwes Limited of South Africa and a Belgian company, International Ore & Fertiliser Belgium S.A (Interore).
Senwes is a former South African grain co-operative since 1900 and became a company in 1997. It is now an integrated agriculture-oriented enterprise that focuses on input supply and market access for producers. The company conducts extensive activities in sectors such as the grain industry, trade and retail, the mechanisation market, agricultural services and as insurance brokers.
A JSE listed company, Senwes disposed of its Profert shareholding in August 2003. Major shareholders of Profert are now its director Johan Coetsee, Sanlam Private Equity, Interore and few others.
Under a Collaboration Agreement signed in Harare in November 2006, Profert Pty Ltd will facilitate the exchange of information and procurement of fertiliser between Profert and the Africa Centre for Fertilizer Development (ACFD). ZBC TV reported that it will supply black urea to Zimbabwe if the deal is to materialize.
The company’s director Mr. Charles January (who is gay and is married to Hompi Crosby Ndimande, who was featured on M-Net in a December 9, 2002 documentary called ‘My Son the Bride’) handed over 30 tonnes (yes 30 tonnes!) of black urea to the ACFD for “trials”.
ACFD is an inter-governmental agricultural research and development organisation established under the African Union (AU), in a move set to contribute positively towards agricultural development.
Earlier in December 2006, Profert was reported in the media to have terminated equity negotiations with Christa van Louw’s Intshona Agricultural Products (Pty) Limited. The intended joint venture agreement between Profert and Intshona was initiated in November 2005.
It was in June 2006 that Intshona Agricultural Products, through Profert, supplied the first 33 000 tons of poor quality fertiliser to the Zimbabwean through the RBZ. Under a US$45 million revolving facility, Intshona Agriculture Products was to supply the country with 50 000 tons of fertiliser, 40 000 tonnes of wheat and 40 000 tons of maize.
Therefore one wonders what trials and testing of fertiliser is now being done when the poor quality fertiliser supplied by Intshona Agricultural Products was sourced from Profert. One furthers wonders why our own Chemistry and Soil Research Institute (CSRI) cannot do the testing.
Profert Pty Ltd is coming into Zimbabwe through the backdoor i.e. through ACFD by importing 30 tonnes for just testing!
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