This was in a Costco magazine. The family used ""savings"" to start this business and then later got a military contract with the US. I wonder where that savings came from? Perhaps more family lore?
They are probably different people. Heinz Bonatz (the Navy-Nazi) died in 1981 according to the Wikipedia article you linked, which makes inventing anything, really, in 1988 rather difficult. Granted, fleeing post-war Germany for South Africa is extremely suspect on its own, but this seems to refer to a different person.