FSCA ‘clears’ Livestock Wealth of wrongdoing

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has confirmed that it has concluded its investigation into crowdfarming platform Livestock Wealth, but says it is still to issue details of its findings. This comes after Livestock Wealth issued a press statement in which it claims that the FSCA found no wrongdoing.

One claim by Livestock Wealth is sure to raise a few eyebrows.

Read:
FSCA sounds alarm on Livestock Wealth’s unlawful conduct [Jan 2024]
Livestock Wealth (and its investors) waiting on the FSCA [Jun 2024]
Did some of the Livestock Wealth cattle escape? [Dec 2024]

“The investigation found no unlawful activity by Livestock Wealth regarding their investor products and dealings with investors,” reads a statement issued by Sibongile Shezi on behalf of Livestock Wealth on Wednesday.

According to a February 2022 Instagram post, Sibongile Shezi is Livestock Wealth’s PR manager.

“In particular, there was no misappropriation of investor funds, and all such funds had been properly accounted for.”

Investigation 

The FSCA announced that it was conducting an investigation into Livestock Wealth and its associated company, Livestock Wealth Financial Services, in January 2024 after receiving complaints from investors who were not being paid their profits after investing in calves, pregnant cows, macadamia trees and portions of farmland.

Several investors spoke to Moneyweb after the publication of the first article about the FSCA warning the public against investing with Livestock Wealth.

One serious compliant came from a stokvel, which alleged that it was owed nearly R140 000 and had been struggling for months to receive payment.

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Livestock Wealth founder and CEO Ntuthuko Shezi was especially unhappy with a subsequent Moneyweb article in June 2024, which raised questions about investors struggling to withdraw their money – so much so that he lodged a complaint with the Press Council of South Africa.

Statement

Wednesday’s Livestock Wealth statement announced that the FSCA had concluded its investigation into Livestock Wealth (Pty) Ltd and Livestock Wealth Financial Services (Pty) Ltd, and that the authority found no unlawful activity.

Livestock Wealth said it welcomed the “successful” conclusion of the FSCA investigation, adding that the inquiry and the negative reporting had harmed its operations.

“Livestock Wealth is pleased to confirm the conclusion of the two-year investigation conducted by the FSCA.

“The matter originated from a widely publicised FSCA press release issued on 24 January 2024, which cautioned the public when dealing with Livestock Wealth and Livestock Wealth Financial Services,” according to the statement.

Listen: FSCA issues warning against Livestock Wealth [Jan 2024]

The statement quotes the FSCA’s announcement of June 2024: “It has come to the attention of the FSCA that Livestock Wealth may be unlawfully offering members of the public investment into livestock and/or agricultural product(s), offering profitable returns upon maturity of the livestock and/or agricultural product(s). The Authority points out that Livestock Wealth is not authorised to render any financial services related business in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (Fais Act).”

Shezi (the CEO) blasted the FSCA after that announcement, saying he had actually applied to register Livestock Wealth as a financial services provider (FSP) with the FSCA earlier, but the authority responded that it was not necessary.

Livestock Wealth even published a list of email messages between the FSCA, Livestock Wealth and Shezi on its website as proof that the FSCA had previously stated that the farming business did not need to register as an FSP. This information has since been removed.

However, Livestock Wealth Financial Services has been registered as an FSP since 2021 and is authorised to act as an intermediary to sell long- and short-term insurance products.

This gave rise to a second complaint, with the FSCA accusing Livestock Wealth of using the Livestock Wealth Financial Services licence and publishing its FSP number on the crowdfarming website – apparently to create the impression that the farming scheme is also approved by the FSCA.

Read: Livestock Wealth’s ‘crowdfarming’ gets backing from RMI, Woolworths [Jul 2019]

Livestock Wealth maintains that it submitted clear evidence demonstrating that the display of the FSP number of the financial services part of the business on its website was aligned with the business plan approved by the FSCA in October 2021, when the FSP licence was granted.

“Nonetheless, the FSCA resolved to still impose an administrative penalty of R50 000 on Livestock Wealth (Pty) Ltd, and similarly on our CEO, Ntuthuko Shezi, specifically related to the display of the subsidiary’s FSP number on the Livestock Wealth website.

“Despite our continued belief that we acted in line with the approved business plan, we elected not to appeal the ruling at the Financial Services Tribunal and have paid the fines in full,” according to the statement.

“We concluded that our immediate focus is better directed toward rebuilding trust, strengthening our market presence, and continuing to deliver value to our stakeholders.”

Negative publicity

Livestock Wealth contends that the FSCA investigation caused “considerable negative publicity” and created anxiety among the public, as well as within its farming network, investor community and staff members.

“Throughout the investigation, Livestock Wealth cooperated fully with the FSCA, responding promptly to all information requests. The FSCA conducted a thorough review of our financial records and analysed every transaction on our platform,” it says in the latest statement.

“We are happy to report that the lengthy investigation and detailed analysis of our business and business model confirmed that the sale of agricultural products by Livestock Wealth did not contravene the Fais Act as had been suggested in the FSCA press release.

“The negative press and mention of unlawful activities created an impression that Livestock Wealth was running a Ponzi-type scheme.”

It adds: “We made full disclosure to the FSCA about our financial systems, including bank accounts, and accounted for every transaction involving investor funds.

“The investigation found no unlawful activity by Livestock Wealth regarding their investor products and dealings with investors. In particular, there was no misappropriation of investor funds, and all such funds had been properly accounted for.

“With the investigation now concluded, Livestock Wealth is entering its next chapter with renewed commitment and clarity of purpose.

“Our mission to end inequality and transform investment access – particularly within agriculture – remains firmly at the centre of our work,” the statement added.

Listen: FSCA issues 16 warnings in 13 days [2025]

Livestock Wealth says it will continue to provide its crowdfarming platform to enable “anyone to be a farmer” and confirmed that the company manages more than R100 million invested in cattle, macadamia and farmland focused on citrus.

The FSCA confirmed that it will issue a statement about the investigation and the administrative penalty that was imposed.

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