Photo by: SA Sugar Association
Sugar producer Tongaat Hulett's business rescue practitioners said they had been granted the right to appeal a December 2023 decision by the Durban High Court that the company had to pay R526-million in outstanding levies to the sugar industry.
The overdue payment of these obligations threatens the livelihoods of many in the sugar industry. Further delays in the payment will be to the detriment of thousands of growers and the rural economies of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal that the sugarcane industry sustains, industry organisation the South African Cane Growers Association (SA Canegrowers) said on August 2.
“SA Canegrowers had hoped the new owners of Tongaat Hulett, the Vision Consortium, would have honoured the outstanding levies and put the matter to rest,” said SA Canegrowers chairperson Higgins Mdluli.
The levies form part of the obligations under legislation, which is legally binding on all members of the industry and serves to ensure that growers, millers and refiners each receive equitable treatment under the law.
In 2023, the Durban High Court confirmed that the legally binding Sugar Industry Agreement must be honoured and that the Companies Act did not override the industry legislation.
The case would now be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal, SA Canegrowers said.
The sugar industry includes 24 000 small-scale farmers and 1 200 commercial farmers and a large downstream economy, and supports the livelihoods of one-million people in South Africa.
The industry is already facing other threats, including dampening demand for local sugar owing to the Health Promotion Levy, or sugar tax, and cheap sugar imports, the organisation said. 