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George Maponga in Masvingo

Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe has formally applied for a 99-year lease from the Government for its properties in the Lowveld as the company continues to show its long term commitment to Zimbabwe.

The country’s sole sugar producer owns over 30 000 hectares most of which are under sugarcane at Hippo Valley and Triangle estates in Chiredzi.

Tongaat owns Triangle estates 100 percent and 50,6 percent in Hippo Valley Estates. Its two sugar mills are stationed at Hippo Valley and Triangle.

The application for a lease by the firm is an indication of its long term commitment to the country with Tongaat being one of the biggest private companies that employs more than 15 000 permanent and contract workers at its sugar estates.

The sugar producer, which is also into cattle production, is one of the biggest private local companies involved in several public/private sector partnerships with positive spin-offs on the national economy as Zimbabwe angles for Vision 2030.

Currently, the firm is developing the 4 000ha Kilimanjaro sugar cane project at a cost of US$40 million with virgin land being developed into cane fields in Chiredzi.

The project that was commissioned by President Mnangagwa in 2019 is being bankrolled by the sugar producer in partnership with Government and local financial institutions.

Upon completion, the cane fields will be demarcated into plots that will be allocated to indigenous Zimbabweans as part of Government’s empowerment drive. However,such investments like Kilimanjaro and others in the offing requires that Tongaat gets a security ot tenure document from Government to protects its investment.

Lands,Agriculture,Fisheries,Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka said the Government was considering Tongaat’s application for a 99-year lease for its properties in the Lowveld.

He said the process was close to completion.

“We are in the final stages of considering their (Tongaat) application for a 99-year lease for their properties,” said Minister Masuka.

“We dispatched technical teams(on the ground) and they have done the mapping of these properties and have brought the reports,so yes Tongaat has made an application for a lease and the Government is considering it.”

Tongaat enjoys monopoly is sugar production in Zimbabwe but Government has allowed entrance of indigenous blacks into the lucrative sugar cane farming sector thanks to the land reform programme.