Sugar Amendment Bill set for overhaul

The Sugar Amendment Bill, which seeks to repeal the Sugar Production Control Act of 1964 may be overhauled to align it to the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), sources said.

The Bill is on the legislative agenda for the Fifth Session of the Ninth Parliament. It emerged during a meeting between sugarcane farmers and legal officers at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce on Thursday that the Bill, drafted in 2020 should be redone to align it with the NDS1, the country’s medium economic blueprint.

“Concerns were raised by legal officials at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce that the draft Bill needs to be overhauled so that it is aligned to the NDS1,” said one source, who declined to be identified because is not authorized to talk to the press.

The next meeting would be around next February. An official comment from the ministry is being sought on the latest development. But a representative of farmers Madock Chivasa confirmed the development but could not be drawn to shed more light.

“It is true that we had a meeting to discuss and some concerns were raised over the need to align it (the Bill) to the country’s broader economic agenda,” said Chivasa.

In 2019, farmers petitioned Parliament for the repeal of the Sugar Production Control Act, arguing that it has been overtaken by developments resulting from land reform.

Prior to the land reform, which started at the turn of the millennium, Tongaat, which owns mills in Triangle and Hippo owned 75 percent of all the land under sugarcane.

Changes in land ownership saw a major transition as plantations under Tongaat declined to 56 percent while out-growers took control of the remaining 44 percent.

In the petition signed by eight associations representing local farmers in the Lowveld, sugarcane growers sought reforms in the entire value chain from a regime of monopoly by Tongaat to that which takes into account changes in the industry resulting from land reform programme that increased participation of local farmers.

The farmers unanimously concurred the Sugar Production Control Act of 1964 was outdated.

The farmers indicated that the Act was devoid of the following; the establishment and incorporation of the Zimbabwe Sugar Association, membership and composition of the association, powers of the ZSA Council, and sugar industry agreements. The associations noted with concern that Tongaat is the sole-dominant player in the entire sugar milling process in the sugar industry value chain in Zimbabwe.-ebusinessweekly