South Africa: Tongaat Hulett Business Rescue - Brinkmanship On Steroids, in Service of a Dubious Zimbabwean Elite

By Sam Sole

Attempts to take over Tongaat Hulett have been shadowed by suspicions that the initiative is driven by politically exposed Zimbabweans pushing to externalise their cash and their influence by gaining control of the sugar value chain in Southern Africa. The latest revelations in the legal battle involving the stalled business rescue of Tongaat Hulett and its possible liquidation.

It seems both unjust and ironic that, while poor South Africans are mobilising against Zimbabwean migrants (among others) who are mostly just seeking refuge from their own predatory mafia-state, South African power-brokers appear poised to open the door for a Zimbabwean-dominated elite to seize control of one of our major assets: Tongaat Hulett.

It is also unfortunate that the hammering at that corporate door has been directed by heavyweight South African banks and lawyers who, since the time of the 2022 take-over bid by the controversial Rudland family, appear cynically indifferent to where the money is coming from and what the ultimate plans for the company are.

And those whose job it is to care - notably the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (DTIC) - appear to be politically browbeaten, legally outgunned and fundamentally unable to imagine how to engage in a fight to protect South Africa's sovereign interests.

This is where we are.

But how did we get here? And why is amaBhungane so interested in Tongaat Hulett, a colonial relic that arguably should have been broken up a long time ago?

There are many reasons, but the first is that Zimbabwe...

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