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The uncertainty unleashed by Tongaat Hulett’s provisional liquidation has rippled through KwaZulu-Natal’s lush cane belt, from small-scale farmers tending a few hard-won hectares to commercial operators leasing vast tracts from the distressed sugar giant near Tongaat.
That burden extends beyond the town’s outskirts into the Midlands and down the coast, unsettling rural communities long attuned to the steady hum of the mills.
The concern is that sugarcane cannot travel far. It must be crushed close to where it is grown and cannot be transported over long distances without compromising quality. If nearby mills shut down, farmers would be left with no viable market.
“The milling…