Vision Group claims solution to save Tongaat Hulett is in sight

2026-03-16 - 11:43

The Vision Group led by South African businessman Robert Gumede claims the consortium is “on the steps to a solution” to save JSE-listed (but suspended) financially-distressed Tongaat Hulett from liquidation. However, Gumede told Moneyweb in an exclusive interview on Friday the solution requires both the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau “to come to the party and find a lasting solution to Tongaat Hulett and not put a bandage on a cancer wound”. Vision acquired Tongaat’s R11.7 billion in debt from the lender group in May 2025 to become the controlling creditor of Tongaat. “If anyone is prepared to ... offer us R12 billion for the business, we will not sell because we believe we are capable of turning this business around and we will be able to diversify it and make it a multi-billion-dollar business. “We are not here for a quick buck,” he stressed. ALSO READ: Fraud blamed for Tongaat Hulett collapse Gumede also emphasised that Vision is not a front for other people who want to own and manage Tongaat’s operations. “We are not sellers, we are not here to trade. We are here to turn the business, grow it and diversify it into energy, where we can produce power, which we can sell to the grid or to the municipality in Durban, and also to produce ethanol,” he said. “We want to see more investment in sugar, which is why we are working closely with the King of the Zulu kingdom to avail more land to the people to plant sugar cane because we want more sugar cane.” Vision’s stance on provisional liquidation The joint business rescue practitioners (BRPs) of Tongaat last month applied to the KwaZulu-Natal High Court for an order discontinuing the company’s business rescue proceedings and placing the company in provisional liquidation. The BRPs took this decision because of a belief the business plan was no longer capable of being implemented as a result of the lapsing of the sale agreements with Vision. Gumede said Vision has taken a position that while it is not in favour of the provisional liquidation, it will also not support or oppose it. Instead, it will focus on finding a solution that will lead to the withdrawal of the provisional liquidation application and Tongaat exiting business rescue. ALSO READ: Farmers sweat over uncertainty of Tongaat Hulett’s future He said Vision submitted two proposals to the IDC in mid-February 2026 but what has been missing is the IDC and Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) sitting down with the consortium or responding to these proposals. Gumede said Vision does not know if the IDC is considering these proposals because the corporation has not responded to the proposals or to two follow-ups this month about the proposals. He said Vision has a meeting scheduled this week with the BRPs, who are in control of the process. Amended proposal submitted An explanatory affidavit by Vision director and major shareholder Rute Moyo about the consortium’s efforts to bring about a resolution of the current stalemate between the IDC, Vision and the BRP’s to save Tongaat was released on Friday. Moyo said Vision remains committed to a regulated and orderly restructuring process that avoids the liquidation of Tongaat where a sustainable rescue solution can reasonably be achieved. He said consistent with that objective, Vision last Tuesday (10 March) delivered to the BRPs, the dtic and the IDC an amended restructuring proposal which addresses the central constraints affecting Tongaat’s continued operation, including its solvency and liquidity position and the resolution of its indebtedness to the South African Sugar Association. “That proposal has been made to the relevant stakeholders in circumstances where Tau and the IDC contend in these proceedings that a restructuring of Tongaat remains possible. ALSO READ: Tongaat Hulett’s collapse began in the boardroom “The proper discharge of the statutory responsibilities of Tau and the IDC requires that they engage constructively with such proposals and indicate the framework through which they contend that a viable restructuring of Tongaat can be achieved,” said Moyo. “Vision’s continued objective is therefore to arrive, together with the relevant stakeholders, at a clear and workable restructuring framework that enables Tongaat to exit business rescue while preserving the substantial economic and social value represented by the business and the broader sugar value chain. “It invites the minister and the IDC to come to the party,” he said. Allegations ‘serious but incorrect’ Moyo said allegations in the answering affidavits filed by the IDC and Tau have been made, suggesting the failure of the rescue process is attributable to Vision’s conduct and that Vision frustrated the implementation of the adopted business rescue plan. He said these are serious allegations but they are incorrect. Moyo said the suggestion by Tau that the rescue process also failed because Vision was unwilling to honour its commitments is baseless. He said the rescue process occurred in circumstances fundamentally different from those suggested by Tau, who also fails to explain what Vision’s “commitments” are that it has allegedly been unwilling to honour. Moyo stressed the business plan does not contemplate any obligation on Vision to expose itself to any funding risks that only arose after the adoption of the plan. He added that Tau’s suggestion that the collapse of the rescue cannot be attributed to Tongaat’s viability does not engage with the position adopted by the IDC itself when, in December 2025, it recorded that the systemic challenges facing the sugar industry went to the “real essence” of whether Tongaat could be restructured in a financially sustainable manner. ALSO READ: Tau lambasts Tongaat BRPs over liquidation application He said Tau’s allegation also appears to proceed on the basis that Vision’s delivery of a notice of default in February 2026 somehow precipitated the provisional liquidation application. Moyo denied Vision’s notice was the catalyst for the liquidation application. He said Vision issued the notice following the lapse of the sale agreements and the breakdown of negotiations to protect its position in the event that Tongaat was placed into liquidation. He said the notice did not alter Tongaat’s legal position during business rescue because the enforcement of such claims remains subject to the statutory moratorium. Moyo said the BRPs’ conclusion that there were no longer reasonable prospects of rescuing Tongaat was driven by the absence of a solution to the working capital crisis, not by any conduct on the part of Vision. Argument on the provisional liquidation of Tongaat is scheduled to be heard next month in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court. This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.