Israel row fallout hits Woolies

RETAIL chain Woolworths says it sources only three products from Israel: figs, pretzels and pomegranates.

Now some of the upmarket retailer's shareholders want to take a bite at management about these snacks at next week's annual general meeting.

This comes on top of a consumer boycott by the pressure group, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions SA (BDSSA).

Nadia Hassan, who claimed to represent a significant number of black shareholders, said her group was still deciding on how to approach the annual meeting. She declined to name any of the shareholders or give an indication of the size of their holdings.

But according to Woolworths, none of its big shareholders is involved.

"I love Woolies and its products, but when it comes to ethics, there is a faultline in its reasoning," Stellenbosch-based shareholder Martie Momberg said.

"[Woolworths] says its selling of goods from Israel, which has a well documented record of oppressing the Palestinian people, is legal. Legal and ethical are not necessarily the same thing."

Woolworths said yesterday it had no political affiliations. "We fully comply with the South African government guidelines on product from Israel and the Middle East," it said.

Momberg claimed to have a substantial part of her personal wealth invested in Woolworths stock. Other shareholders gathered in Sandton yesterday in a meeting organised by BDSSA leading up to the annual meeting on Wednesday.

"There will definitely be concerned shareholders attending the meeting," Momberg said.

A Jewish human rights activist, Alan Horwitz, said he represented a group of Jewish shareholders in Woolworths who had taken a stand to support the #BoycottWoolworths campaign.

Momberg said she had been having discussions with her financial adviser about the problems she had with Woolworths.

"It led me to decide not to take up new shares in the rights issue," she said.

But others did not share her concerns at the time.

Woolworths shareholders jumped at the chance to get more shares and the rights issue on September 29 saw shareholders applying for 115% of the shares on offer.

And Woolies' share price has rallied 14% over the past month. - TJ Strydom