Sugar industry warns of job losses

After years in business rescue, the provisional liquidation of Tongaat Hulett Limited has thrown South Africa’s sugar industry into uncertainty, with cane growers warning that its closure would be disastrous for the local industry.

- By Coceka Magubeni

The chief operating officer of the South African Farmers Development Association, Thandokwakhe Sibiya, told Sunday World leadership had met with Robert Gumede of the Vision Group, the consortium that was set to acquire the assets of the South African sugar producer as part of a 2024-approved business rescue plan.

“Mr Gumede has assured us that he is doing everything in his power, as a leader of the Vision Group, to ensure that we find a solution.

The concept is that we move to a business rescue process, which is far better than liquidation,” he said.

He said that if Tongaat Hulett closes, it would be disastrous.

“That would mean the industry is unable to supply the local market. It would open the door for imports, with cheap sugar coming into the market. Once that happens, it becomes a downward slope because poverty and unemployment would rise, towns could become ghost towns, KwaZulu-Natal would be economically destabilised, and even South Africa would feel the impact. We do not want that outcome,” he said.