Heritage: An Indian family in Natal circa 1888. Source: The Collections
Library of the South African Parliament
On 16 November 1860, the first Indians landed in Durban aboard the SS Truro from Madras, having been brought to work in the sugar cane plantation of the then Port Natal.
By 1903, Sir Liege Hulett, knighted for his contributions to the colony of Natal, operated his first sugar mill and controlled a sizable portion of the sugar produced in Natal.
The 152 184 Indians were indentured labourers, a type of debt servitude that differed from slavery only in that the workers received food and board, and a small monthly stipend.
Today, 130 years later, the descendants of those Indians, who are still largely dependent on the sugar business, stand to lose their livelihoods at the hands of the corporation that flourished as a result of their ancestors’ labour.
People of Indian descent make up 57% of the population of the Tongaat area.
Given the significance of Tongaat Hulett in growing the economy of KwaZulu-Natal and its indentured labour history, the imminent collapse of the company conjures up a multitude of bittersweet reflections, said Selvan Naidoo, director of the 1860 Heritage Centre, which aims to showcase the rich heritage of Indian South Africans.
Recently the sugar and property company filed for voluntary business rescue for its South African operations after lenders pulled their financial support.
“They [Tongaat Hulett] have destroyed the economy of Tongaat and … they have done nothing but take from the community even when it came to property. They have taken and gained through the exploitation of black people in the country,” Naidoo told the Mail & Guardian.
The mounting debt has made it difficult for the company to service its debts. With Tongaat Hulett needing about R1.5-billion to repay its debts and fund its working capital requirements, more than 23 000 people are at risk of losing their jobs.
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After the Steinhoff debacle of 2017, Tongaat Hulett is the second biggest case of fraud and accounting irregularities committed in South Africa.
Its books revealed financial discrepancies, with false profit reporting to the tune of R4-billion. As a result, the company’s financial statements had to be restated and the board resolved to suspend its listing on the Johannesburg and London stock exchanges.
Tongaat Hulett issued section 189 retrenchment notices to 5 000 of its 30 000 employees in 2019 as part of a “headcount reduction” aimed at keeping the company afloat, the M&G previously reported.
Section 189 of the Labour Act permits employers to dismiss employees for operational requirements. These can be requirements based on economic, technological, structural or similar needs of the employer.
“I have always been very clear in my position of how they’ve [Tongaat Hulett] denied the indentured community as seen up to now. They don’t put anything back, it’s just tickle-box-exercises of transformation. They haven’t delivered what ought to be delivered,” Naidoo said.
“But I’m saying that when we look at the broader historical narrative you need to weigh the amount of fortunes that you amass versus what you put in. They do nothing in terms of giving back in terms of memorialising the history of indentured labourers.”
Some 40km north of Durban and located on the uThongathi River, the town of Tongaat was established by British sugar barons to house the indentured labourers. Its name was taken from the nearby river, the Zulu word for the indigenous trees that flourish on the river banks.
One of Tongaat Hulett’s major sugar mills and its head office are in the town.
Tongaat was one of the areas badly affected by the devastating floods in April and was without water for 200 days. Residents had to march to demand that the municipality reconnect water supply nearly six months after the disaster.
Tongaat Hulett was formed in 1962 as a result of a merger between the Tongaat Sugar Company, founded by Edward Renault Saunders, and Hulett Sugar, founded by Hulett.
Both Saunders and Hulett were noted for their strong advocacy of the importation of indentured Indian labour to grow the economy of an undeveloped colonial Natal, Naidoo said, adding that “on closer inspection, the advocacy of Indian labour was a carefully constructed plan concocted by colonial farmers to bring in cheap labour from India to maximise profits”.
Tongaat Hulett started as a diversified industrial business with interests in aluminium, building materials, consumer foods, cotton, edible oils, industrial and commercial catering, mushrooms, sugar and agricultural land development.
But, since the early 1990s, the group has systematically divested from a number of these businesses and refocused its operations on agri-processing and prime agricultural land holdings.
“They have moved from the sugar enterprise and the bulk of their profits are now in commercial property. The very property that they stole from the black people in our country, the Zulus specifically,” said Naidoo.
“People were forced to leave Durban and their environments and go settle in the reserves. If anything, the lower rungs within these communities are probably more impoverished than the black community and that’s largely because of Tongaat Hulett and what they created.”
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