{"id":857653,"date":"2026-04-20T08:44:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T06:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=857653"},"modified":"2026-04-20T08:44:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T06:44:34","slug":"joint-state-owned-company-hit-with-r500000-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/857653\/joint-state-owned-company-hit-with-r500000-fine\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint state-owned company hit with R500,000 fine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Komati Basin Water Authority (KOBWA), a bi-national entity between South Africa and Eswatini, has been publicly censured and fined R500,000 for failing to comply with listing requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOBWA is a bi-national company formed in 1992 through the Treaty of the Development and Utilisation of the Water Resources of the Komati River Basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The treaty was signed between South Africa and Eswatini, with the authority tasked with designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining two dams and associated infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This resulted in the construction of the Driekoppies Dam in Schoemansdal, South Africa, completed in 1998 and the Maguga Dam in Eswatini, completed in 2003. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dams were constructed primarily to ensure a water supply for irrigators in both member states, with tourism one of the spin-offs of their development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A revised Kobwa treaty was signed by South Africa and Eswatini in March, expanding the role of the joint state-owned entities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes future dam projects within the Komati Basin, revenue-generating initiatives to ensure financial sustainability, and enhanced river flow monitoring to ensure flows to Mozambique. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bi-national company has now been censured by the JSE for failing to publish a SENS announcement regarding a senior leadership change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its Executive Operations Director was appointed on 11 August 2025, timeously, but the SENS announcement was only published on 19 November 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The JSE found the late announcement was in breach of paragraph 6.42(a) of the Debt and Specialist Securities Listings Requirement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four breaches in four years <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Maguga Dam in Eswatini<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

This is KOBWA’s fourth recorded instance of non-compliance with the DSS Listing Requirements in recent years, which includes: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • A late announcement in 2022 relating to key executive management and board changes;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A late announcement in 2023 relating to a board change;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A late announcement in 2025 relating to the appointment of new auditors; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The current late announcement in 2025 regarding a board change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The JSE said that KOBWA continues to demonstrate recurrent non-compliance, including repeated failures to ensure the timely disclosure of announcements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “The timely publication of SENS announcements is essential to maintaining transparency and ensuring a fair and orderly market,” it said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The bourse said that SENS announcements must be on time to ensure that investors and potential investors receive timely and pertinent information about an Issuer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It added that the DSS Listing Requirements prescribe clear timeframes for disclosures, and strict adherence to these timeframes is fundamental to sound corporate governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “The JSE considers KOBWA\u2019s continued failure to comply with its disclosure obligations to be unacceptable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “This is particularly concerning given that the Issuer has previously relied on its internal governance structures and advisory support as safeguards against further lapses.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It said that recurrent delayed disclosures point to material weaknesses in the issuer’s compliance framework and reflect an ongoing disregard for the DSS Listings Requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Due to the breach and repeated history of similar contraventions, the JSE has decided to impose a public censure on KOBWA and a fine of R500,000.00. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The fine is suspended for a period of three years, on the condition that the issuer is found not to be in breach of the DSS Listings Requirement during the suspension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The JSE has hit the Komati Basin Water Authority with a R500,000 fine for failing to timeously announce the appointment of an executive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":855426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[175,25229],"class_list":["post-857653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-jse","tag-kobwa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857653"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857658,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857653\/revisions\/857658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}