This is to ensure that:
they are adequately consulted, involved in decision making and compensated;
past users and owners have not been wrongfully removed;
minorities and other vulnerable groups (including indigenous peoples) have been consulted to
endeavour to procure “free, prior and informed consent” in relation to any matter affecting them;
the project does not result in scarcity of residential property or food commodities;
affected owners and users of the land or property are adequately compensated to help them
restore their standards of living or livelihoods to the same or higher than before; and
the compensation standards are transparent and applied consistently to all communities and
persons affected.
In South Africa, Illovo has sold and transferred 52% of its agricultural land holdings to historically
disadvantaged communities, both prior to and after the introduction of the Restitution of Land Rights Act.
We work proactively with black farmers, managing and holding training programmes that provide
technical and financial assistance to new emerging cane growers ensuring the long-term commercial
sustainability of their farms. We are proud of our endeavours in this regard, which have been recognised
through our broad based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) achievement of the full points as well
as all the bonus points for our land ownership element, which recognises the transfer of land to black
people, in the process earning a Level 2 BEE status in terms of the B-BBEE AgriBEE sector Code. The
B-BBEE certificate and report is posted to our website at
A farmer for the past 18 years, Thulas Ngidi is living his late father’s dream having acquired his first farm
from Illovo on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, and later going on to purchase two further adjacent
farms. Now collectively called Phathokwakhe Sugar Estate, Thulas went through some tough times but
his own spirit of survival carried him through and in addition to his own success, now finds himself, in
addition to other leadership positions, Chairperson of Sezela Cane Growers Association and a Board
member of Illovo SA. Thulas says: “There are so many opportunities to explore. Being involved in the
structures has opened my mind and has enabled me to play a meaningful and constructive role in
bridging the gap between commercial and land reform growers.”
