Coffee Business in South Africa: Wild West?

Greetings! Robert

Thank you for the first of many eJournals.

I came across your site after a friend mentioned he had watched a TV programme on coffee, in which Oxfam was mentioned. Up until then it was a struggle to find coffee sites. But the Oxfam site opened a cornucopia of news that has now been down-loaded for my "library".

Your free eJournal was therefore appreciated, more especially because the competition in Johannesburg is fierce. I found that many coffee sites were generous with information. This is unheard of in Johannesburg. To describe the competition here, two examples (the individuals are personally known to me so the "stories" are not heresay):

A Burundi through whom I wanted to import green coffee, urged me not to get into the coffee business because his life had been threatened. He had been warned off and has since ceased to import coffee. (He had been in South Africa 12 years).

A personal friend who was doing very well as a roaster in Johannesburg lost two coffee businesses: (1) after a rival paid a bribe to the lessor of his premises to have him evicted from his well-situated business, and (2) a mafia group (not Italian/Greek) intimidated him and his customers in a second venture, to the extent that he had to close shop. He lost his investment, even though he won his case against the rival in (1). (He had refused their offer of 'protection').

Is the competition as fierce in your area? Is the opposition also as threatening? I would like to hear from you (your readers) about this aspect.

Kind regards
Maureen

[Robert's Note: I asked Maureen for permission to publish her message, and below is her reply]

You may publish my letter, but eeee! You might not hear from me again. It's the wild west here, and people disappear for less. I am not a schizo nor paranoid. Perhaps at some time I should try to get hold of the paper clippings and either scan them for your info, or reproduce them with permission from source.

But . . . what the heck, go ahead.
Maureen