Tongaat Hulett is an agriculture and agri-processing business, focusing on the complementary feedstocks of sugarcane and maize. The company had its origins on the

North coast North Coast or Northcoast may refer to : Antigua and Barbuda * Major Division of North Coast, a census division in Saint John Parish Australia *New South Wales North Coast, a region Canada *The British Columbia Coast, primarily the communiti ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

, specifically the town of

Tongaat oThongathi (previously and popularly known as Tongaat) is a town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, about north of Durban and south of KwaDukuza. It now forms part of eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, or the Greater Durban area. The area is hom ...

. The company was formed as a result of a merger between the Tongaat Sugar Company founded by Edward Saunders and Hulett's Sugar founded in 1892 by

Liege Hulett Sir James Liege Hulett (17 May 1838 – 5 June 1928) was a British sugar magnate, politician and philanthropist in Colony of Natal, South Africa. Hulett founded what would become Tongaat Hulett Sugar in 1892. The JSE Securities Exchange-liste ...

. Company stock is listed on the

Johannesburg Securities Exchange JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 200 ...

. Its core businesses are sugar,

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

and

property management Property management is the operation, control, maintenance, and oversight of real estate and physical property. This can include residential, commercial, and land real estate. Management indicates the need for real estate to be cared for and monit ...

Operations

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

* The company head office is located at Amanzimnyama,

near

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. *

Sugar mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw or white sugar. The term is also used to refer to the equipment that crushes the sticks of sugar cane to extract the juice. Processing There are a number of steps in pro ...

s are located at

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

Darnall Darnall is a suburb of eastern Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Darnall is approximately east-north-east of Sheffield city centre. History Darnall was initially a small hamlet usually included with Attercliffe. William Walker, a resident ...

, Amatikulu and Felixton. * A central refinery is in

* Animal feeds operation (Voermol Feeds)

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

* Tongaat Hulett Açucar,

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

* Açucareira de Xinavane Xinavane Mill,

Xinavane Xinavane is a town on the Incomati River, in the Manhiça District of Maputo Province, in Mozambique about 80 kilometres north of Maputo. Economy Tongaat Hulett Sugar grows sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tal ...

Manhiça District Manhiça District is a district of Maputo Province in southern Mozambique. The principal town is Manhiça. The district is located in the north of the province, and borders with Magude District in the north, Bilene Macia District of Gaza Province ...

Maputo Province Maputo Province is a province of Mozambique; the province excludes the city of Maputo (which comprises a separate province). The province has an area of and a population of 1,968,906 (2017 census). Its capital is the city of Matola. Geography ...

* Açucareira de Moçambique Mafambisse Mill, in Mafambisse,

Dondo District Dondo District is a district of Sofala Province in Mozambique. The principal town is Dondo. The district is located in the center of the province, and borders with Muanza District in the north, the city of Beira and Buzi District in the south, a ...

, near Beira, in

Sofala Province Sofala is a province of Mozambique. It has a population of 2,259,248 (2017 census). Beira is the capital of the province, named for the ruined port of Sofala which is to the south. History Portuguese landholder and imperialist Joaquim Carl ...

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

* Tambankulu Estates,

Mhlume Mhlume is a town located in the Lubombo district of Eswatini. Mhlume has a population in excess of 20,000. It is well known for its large sugar cane fields in the area. It also has a sugar refinery called Mhlume (Swaziland) Sugar Company. Mhlume ...

– The company operates two agricultural estates on the

Mbuluzi River The Mbuluzi River (also known as the iMbuluzi or Umbeluzi) is one of the main rivers of Eswatini, and an important river in Mozambique. On the boundary of these countries, the Mbuluzi cuts through the Lebombo Range, before entering the Mozambic ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

Tongaat Hulett's had three sugar estates in Zimbabwe in

Chiredzi District A district in Zimbabwe, Masvingo Province Chiredzi found in the district, is one of a number of centers for HIV/AIDS treatment in the province. The district's Hippo Valley Hospital is one of a number of centers for HIV/AIDS treatment in the pro ...

and they bordered one another. * Triangle Estate in

Triangle, Zimbabwe Triangle is a small town in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe, and is located 125 km south-east from Masvingo, between Ngundu Growth Point and Chiredzi. The town is located in the district of Chiredzi, one of the seven in Masvingo Province. Th ...

* Hippo Valley Estates, listed on the

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, or ZSE, is the official stock exchange of Zimbabwe. Its history dates back to 1896 but has only been open to foreign investment since 1993. The exchange has about a dozen members, and currently lists 63 equities. The ...

. * Mkwasine Estates is now occupied by newly resettled farmers

Animal feeds

Voermol Feeds, based in Maidstone, produces molasses-based animal feeds.

Artificial sweeteners

Cape Sweeteners, based in Durban, is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of Tongaat Hulett Sugar, producing

artificial sweetener A sugar substitute is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may be d ...

s including;

aspartame Aspartame is an artificial non-saccharide sweetener 200 times sweeter than sucrose and is commonly used as a sugar substitute in foods and beverages. It is a methyl ester of the aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide with the trade names ...

neotame Neotame, also known by the trade name Newtame, is a non-caloric artificial sweetener and aspartame analog by NutraSweet. By mass, it is 8000 times sweeter than sucrose. It has no notable off-flavors when compared to sucrose. It enhances origina ...

, acesulfame-K,

fructose Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a Ketose, ketonic monosaccharide, simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galacto ...

sodium saccharin Saccharin (''aka'' saccharine, Sodium sacchari) is an artificial sweetener with effectively no nutritional value. It is about 550 times as sweet as sucrose but has a bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. Saccharin is ...

sodium cyclamate Cyclamate is an artificial sweetener. It is 30–50 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar), making it the least potent of the commercially used artificial sweeteners. It is often used with other artificial sweeteners, especially saccharin; ...

, polydextrose,

maltitol Maltitol is a sugar alcohol (a polyol) used as a sugar substitute. It has 75–90% of the sweetness of sucrose (table sugar) and nearly identical properties, except for browning. It is used to replace table sugar because it is half as energetic, ...

and

lactitol Lactitol is a sugar alcohol used as a replacement bulk sweetener for low calorie foods with 30–40% of the sweetness of sucrose. It is also used medically as a laxative. Lactitol is produced by two manufacturers, Danisco and Purac Biochem. ...

. It is the exclusive South African

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

Nutrasweet The NutraSweet Company is an American nutrient company that produces and markets NutraSweet Neotame, their trademarked brand name for the high-intensity sweetener neotame. In 2021, NutraSweet was placed 43rd by FoodTalks' list of Top 50 Global S ...

and

Starch

Tongaat Hulett Starch, previously African Products is Africa's largest producer of

and

glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, using ...

, produced at five South African factories.

Land development

Tongaat Hulett Developments is a land conversion and development company that carries out land conversion activities by collaborating closely with the public sector, communities and other businesses.

Corruption scandal

At the end of 2018 the CEO, Peter Staude took early retirement and the chief financial officer, Murray Munro, went on sick-leave. In January 2019 a new CEO was appointed. In February 2019 the company announced a drop in expected profits as well as a liquidity crisis. In May 2019 the company announced that its published financial results could not be relied on and that the company's equity (the value of the business after liabilities) in its 2018 financial results has been overstated by between R3.5 billion to R4.5 billion in addition revised financial reports would be published in October 2019. The Zimbabwean operation of Tongaat-Hulett has also not been able to provide reliable financial reports in 2019 on time. The auditing firm,

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

were employed to do a forensic audit. The diligence of the company's regular auditors,

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

has been called into question. The company suspended trading on the

Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...

. In late June 2019 the company laid a criminal charge against an unnamed executive. In an effort to survive the company is cutting costs and has sent retrenchment letters to 5000 employees. In August 2019 the company decided to remove itself from the list of traded companies on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

. In February 2022 seven people connected with the scandal namely, Peter Staude, Murray Hector Munro, Michael Edward Deighton, Rory Edward Wilkinson, Kamasagrie Singh, Samantha Shukla and Gavin Dykes Kruger appeared in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court and were granted bail. The appeared in court again in April 2022.

References

External links

*{{official, www.tongaat.com Sugar companies of South Africa Companies of South Africa EThekwini Metropolitan Municipality Companies based in KwaZulu-Natal Agriculture in Zimbabwe Chiredzi District Starch companies Sugar companies 1892 establishments in the British Empire Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Accounting scandals 1892 establishments in Africa Publicly traded companies