President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent Ministers Parks Tau and Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to KwaZulu-Natal to assist wth intevntions at Tongaat Hulett and ArcelorMittal South Africa, in an attempt to halt them from going under.
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport and Human Settlements Siboniso Duma confirmed the move this week, saying the goal is clear: save thousands of jobs that are hanging in the balance.
Tongaat Hulett has been in business rescue since October 2022 after a string of accounting scandals, dodgy financial reporting and governance breakdowns wiped out about R12 billion in shareholder value and cut off its access to new money.
A rescue plan that creditors signed off on in 2024 relied on selling assets to the Vision consortium, but the deal fell apart when refinancing talks with the Industrial Development Corporation collapsed. The sale agreements expired on 7 February 2026 after Vision refused to give more time. With no plan left to execute, the business rescue practitioners asked the Durban High Court to put the company into provisional liquidation.
The first court date was pushed back in late February, so other interested parties could join the fight.
Among them are the SA Canegrowers Association (speaking for roughly 23,000 farmers), the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, and a handful of others.
The court has now set a tight schedule: opposing papers due by 5 pm today (4 March), heads of argument soon after, and the KwaZulu-Natal Judge President will decide on mid-March hearing dates.
Duma has welcomed the ministers’ involvement and tied it to the bigger picture. He pointed out that KwaZulu-Natal grew 1.8% last year—better than the national figure—and put that down to the stability delivered by the Government of Unity setup at both provincial and national levels.
“The president prioritised investments in socio-economic infrastructure as an instrument to grow the economy and create jobs,” he said, adding that the two ministers are in the province specifically to help keep jobs alive here.
In his State of the Nation Address on 12 February, Ramaphosa promised more than R1 trillion in public money for infrastructure over the next three years to pull in private investment and hold onto employment.
The fallout from Tongaat Hulett would hit rural KwaZulu-Natal hardest. Duma put it bluntly:
“The decision to oppose the liquidation of Tongaat Hulett will save more than 15 000 jobs of small-scale sugarcane growers, mainly Black farmers, mostly in deep rural areas. Saving jobs is what King Misuzulu is advocating. Importantly, as the Department of Transport, we provide road infrastructure to the sugarcane industry, which has over 350,000 jobs. We, therefore, welcome the alternative investor strategy for sustainable capitalisation as articulated by Tau during an engagement with stakeholders.”
Furthermore, the DTIC shares that view and has made it official.
“Liquidation should be a measure of last resort, particularly where there are reasonable prospects of rescuing a strategically important enterprise in a manner that protects jobs,” the department said in a statement.
It also believes the company can still be turned around with the right intervention. The canegrowers’ association has warned that liquidation could put a quarter of a million livelihoods at risk across the entire sugar chain.
Duma also gave credit to Ramokgopa for steady improvements in power supply—crucial for heavy users.
“His efforts, together with Minister Tau, will save more than 3 400 jobs at Newcastle’s ArcelorMittal—a company that relies heavily on energy,” he said.
Furthermore, ArcelorMittal South Africa has had the Newcastle Works and its long-steel operations on care-and-maintenance for some time due of mounting losses.
Talks about a rescue have been going on since at least late 2023. As reported by Newcastillian News on 26 February, AMSA has confirmed that discussions with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC)—which holds about 8% of the company—are ongoing. These talks, which progressed to a non-binding term sheet in January 2026, centre on potential funding and ownership restructuring for the Newcastle Works.
At the heart of the proposal is a consortium of South African steel processors that could take control, with the IDC providing key funding and possibly increasing its shareholding.
ArcelorMittal might keep a temporary stake to allow a smoother handover, and the assets would need revaluation. AMSA’s Group Manager for Stakeholder Engagement and Communications, Tami Didiza, said the company can’t comment on specifics yet: “Unfortunately, we can’t comment on any questions related to this matter. Once discussions are finalised, we’ll make a public statement.” But he did confirm that IDC talks continue.
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What now unfolds in courtrooms and boardrooms will determine far more than the fate of two balance sheets.
For Tongaat Hulett, the immediate question is whether liquidation can be averted long enough to secure an alternative investor and stabilise a sugar chain that supports tens of thousands of growers, mill workers and transporters across rural KwaZulu-Natal.
The company’s collapse would ripple well beyond its own workforce, threatening small-scale farmers, seasonal labourers and entire towns whose economies are anchored to the cane fields.
While AMSA refrains from commenting at this time, in Newcastle, the future of ArcelorMittal’s long-steel operations carries similar weight. The outcome of funding negotiations and potential ownership restructuring will decide whether heavy industry remains a pillar of the town’s economy or recedes further under the strain of mounting losses.
The involvement of Ministers Parks Tau and Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, dispatched by President Cyril Ramaphosa to support intervention efforts, adds political weight to the rescue attempts — but their presence does not guarantee success. Ultimately, it is the viability of funding models, investor confidence and court decisions that will determine whether these two industrial anchors survive, and whether thousands of families retain their livelihoods.
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One Response
If nothing new comes in the place of Arcelor Mittal, Newcastle will also collapse in time. People will leave in search of a new job. If there is no 100 percent help from the government it will be the end of our debited Municipality too.