Mediamec KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi is personally overseeing an investigation into alleged organised crime linked to the liquidation of Tongaat Hulett.
Mkhwanazi, who also co-ordinates national efforts against organised crime, called a private meeting at the provincial police headquarters in Durban on Friday as the investigation continued.
Those attending included the sugar producer’s business rescue management, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), KwaZulu-Natal sugarcane growers and representatives of the Zulu Royal Household.
Speaking outside the venue, SAPS spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed that the investigation was active. He declined to identify the complainant or disclose when the case docket was opened, citing operational sensitivity.
Journalists were excluded from the discussions, and attendees asked not to be interviewed because the meeting was private.
The investigation comes amid continuing legal disputes over attempts to rescue Tongaat Hulett, whose financial crisis followed an accounting scandal uncovered in 2019.
PwC investigators found that management had overstated profits by R12 billion over several years, using fictitious cane supply contracts and recording land-sale revenue prematurely.
A criminal complaint followed. Trading in the company’s JSE shares was suspended in July 2022 after it failed to release audited financial results.
Tongaat Hulett entered voluntary business rescue on 27 October 2022. Its non-executive directors resigned shortly afterwards, leaving business rescue practitioners in control.
Efforts to secure new funding included a proposed R4 billion rights issue involving Magister Investments, a Mauritian entity linked to Zimbabwe’s Rudland family. The transaction would have given Magister a 60% stake.
That proposal failed amid concerns about an unidentified shareholder holding 41% of Magister and its connection to Gold Leaf Tobacco, which faces allegations of illicit cigarette trading.
Creditors approved a rescue plan in January 2024 requiring the sale of all the company’s assets. The competing bidders were Vision Group, a consortium led by Mpumalanga billionaire Robert Gumede, and Terris Sugar, a Mauritian business linked to the RGS Group.
Vision, which already held a substantial share of Tongaat Hulett’s bank debt, was chosen. In June 2026, it signed a binding agreement with the IDC and the business rescue practitioners.
The agreement provided for the IDC’s R2.75 billion in post-commencement funding, used to keep the mills operating, to be exchanged for a 25% stake in Vision’s sugar operations in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana. Vision would retain the remaining ownership.
Terris Sugar continues to challenge the selection process in court.
In another legal dispute, the Constitutional Court refused Tongaat Hulett leave to appeal on 24 August in a matter involving R517 million in levies owed to the South African Sugar Association.
Separately, former Tongaat Hulett executives and a former auditor face fraud charges in proceedings that began with their first appearance in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court on 10 February 2022. The value of the alleged fraud rose from R1.5 billion to R3.5 billion.
That case was last before the Durban High Court on 10 September. It was postponed to 18 March 2027 after prosecutors sought more time to obtain a fresh racketeering certificate.
