Tongaat Hulett's stakeholders, including thousands of small scale sugar cane farmers, will be relieved that the Business Rescue Practitioners have been able to withdraw their provisional liquidation application.
The future of a modern South African sugar industry and 250,000 jobs across the sector value chain were secured for now, after agreements were reached that allowed Tongaat Hulett’s provisional liquidation application to be withdrawn.
This was according to the SA Canegrowers, which was reacting to a Durban High Court decision early Wednesday to allow the joint Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) of Tongaat Hulett (THL) to withdraw the company's provisional liquidation application. The BRPs warned, however, that the future of the company remains under threat due to a massive increase in dumped sugar imports.
“With the liquidation of Tongaat Hulett off the table, we hope its mills and refinery can now focus on operating without interruption. More than 17,500 sugarcane growers rely on Tongaat,” said Higgins Mdluli, chairman of SA Canegrowers.
Tongaat Hulett operates three sugar mills and the country’s biggest refiner of white sugar. For more than 130 years, the company has been a cornerstone of the industry, which supports more than one million livelihoods.
