BASETSANA Kumalo, former Miss South Africa and über-successful businesswoman, is at the centre of a spat between empowerment shareholders of the newly launched, JSE-and Australian-listed Waterberg Coal Company over a coal-rich property in Limpopo.Waterberg Coal, which listed last year and is now worth R292m, has a lucrative deal to provide beleaguered power utility Eskom with coal for the next 30 years.But this ill-tempered dispute, involving hundreds of millions of rands, has driven a wedge between high-profile members of South Africa’s black-empowerment elite, eager to cash in on South Africa’s coal boom.Kumalo’s empowerment company, Uzalile, formed a joint venture with a company run by high-profile entrepreneur Tim Tebeila, which saw the two partners control the Vetleegte farm, which ultimately folded into Waterberg.The farm was valued at R371m, putting Uzalile’s 60% stake in the farm at about R222m.Now Kumalo claims that Uzalile was short-changed in the valuation of the farm, an...
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