More than 14,600 jobs could be in jeopardy after Tongaat Hulett missed a grower payment deadline. Stock photo.The jobs of an estimated 14,642 permanent and seasonal farm workers are at risk after Tongaat Hulett, which is in business rescue, missed a R400m payment due to sugar cane growers.
This is according to the SA Canegrowers Association, which said it will meet the business rescue practitioners on Wednesday. Growers of sugar cane had expected payment for consignments delivered to mills in September. The association said the company's decision to enter into voluntary business rescue “has placed the entire sugar industry and the jobs it sustains in a perilous position with thousands of jobs and livelihoods hanging in the balance”.
Apart from farm workers, the impact is also expected to be felt by contractors, haulier companies, input suppliers, mill workers and other service providers. “The number of jobs at risk is likely to increase as uncertainty rises about whether growers who delivered cane in October will be paid on time,” it said.