The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in KwaZulu-Natal notes with deep concern the collapse of the business rescue process at Tongaat Hulett, a development that poses a serious threat to jobs, the provincial economy, local supply chains, and the livelihoods of workers and communities who depend on the sugar industry. This collapse is not merely a corporate failure, it is a direct assault on workers, their families, and the economic stability of KwaZulu-Natal.

COSATU KZN emphasises that the crisis facing Tongaat Hulett must be understood within its historical and political-economic context. Like other monopolistic industries such as mining, Tongaat Hulett is part of the conglomerate capitalist system that was built through colonialism and apartheid, driven by land dispossession, cheap labour, exploitation of indigenous communities, and systematic underdevelopment of African people. The collapse of Tongaat Hulett is therefore not an accident, it is the inevitable crisis of capitalist greed, mismanagement, corporate corruption, and reckless accumulation.

We have always maintained that capitalism, by its very nature, produces crises and ultimately “digs its own grave.” What we are witnessing today is yet another example of a system that enriches a few at the expense of the majority and then demands public rescue when it collapses under the weight of its own contradictions.

Tongaat Hulett has benefitted for decades from the exploitation of workers, communities and small-scale farmers, while accumulating wealth, expanding investments and in many cases exporting profits out of the country. Yet today, when the company faces collapse, workers are expected to suffer job losses while the same capitalist forces look to the democratic state and taxpayers for a bailout.

COSATU KZN rejects the dangerous narrative that the state must rescue private capital without accountability. It would be criminal and morally indefensible for public funds, generated through the taxes of workers and the poor, to be used to save private companies that have historically enriched shareholders, executives and monopoly capital, while suppressing wages and deepening poverty. We must save jobs, but with conditions and accountability

As COSATU we are clear, South Africa cannot afford to lose a single job. KwaZulu-Natal in particular is already suffering from deep unemployment, poverty, and inequality. The collapse of Tongaat Hulett will worsen this crisis and undermine efforts to rebuild the provincial economy.

For this reason, COSATU KZN supports urgent government intervention to protect jobs, stabilise the sugar sector and the economy. However, we state unequivocally that any state intervention must come with strict and non-negotiable conditions.

If government is expected to inject resources into Tongaat Hulett, then government must not act as a charity for private capital. The state must intervene in a manner that advances public ownership, worker control, and long-term industrial sustainability.

COSATU KZN therefore demands that any financial support or intervention from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) or any state institution must include the following:

–       Equity ownership by the state and workers in exchange for any public funding;

–       Worker representation and participation in governance and strategic decision-making;

–    Full disclosure and forensic accountability regarding the causes of the collapse and past mismanagement;

–       Commitments to job protection, including a moratorium on retrenchments;

–    A clear industrial plan to stabilise production and support small-scale farmers and local suppliers;

–    Consequences for those responsible, including executives and private actors who benefited while the company was driven into crisis.

The ArcelorMittal experience has already shown that the state is often called to intervene in strategic industries to prevent job losses. COSATU supports intervention, but not at the expense of turning government into a permanent rescue fund for private capital.

The sugar industry is strategic to KwaZulu-Natal. It supports thousands of jobs directly and indirectly, including those of farmworkers, millworkers, transport operators, small growers and many rural communities. Allowing Tongaat Hulett to collapse without a worker-centred intervention will have devastating ripple effects across the province and further deepen social instability. This moment must be used not to preserve monopoly ownership, but to restructure the industry in the interests of the working class and the people of South Africa.

COSATU will closely monitor developments and engage with government, relevant stakeholders and affected workers. We remain committed to defending jobs, protecting communities and ensuring that the working class does not carry the burden of corporate failures.

We will not allow state resources, money belonging to the people to be abused to protect the profits of private capital.

The time has come for a new economic path where workers and communities are placed at the centre of industrial development, ownership and decision-making.

Issued by COSATU KwaZulu Natal

For Enquiries: Edwin Mkhize (Provincial Secretary)

Mobile: 082 399 7756 / 076 522 8839

Email: edwin@cosatu.org.za