TRUCKING WAR: E2.1M CANE FIELDS BURNT

Part of the fields on fire.

MANZINI – A feud between two sugar cane hauling companies turned nasty when sugar cane fields measuring 18.6 hectares worth E2.1 million were reduced to ashes by unknown people.

The incident took place at St Philips yesterday morning but the feud between the two companies started a while ago.
An impeccable source said the two companies were both vying for a tender of cutting and hauling sugar cane from one of the sugar cane associations that cultivated cane at St Philip’s.

He said during the tendering process, the association cultivating the sugar cane, asked for a company that had at least four hauling trucks registered under the company name, a bank statement which would prove that the company would be able to run the business even if the association would delay paying it.

Furthermore, the association looked for a company that had goods on transit so that the sugar cane could be insured in case of an accident and with clean previous references.

“Out of 13 companies, only one won, but another company from the area did not accept the outcome of the process. The company’s main argument was how could the association take local jobs and give it to a company from another community?”

He alleged that they defied the decision of the tendering committee by forcefully going to cut the sugar cane in the fields and the winning company went to court where it obtained a court order in its favour.
However, the aggrieved company is said to have appealed the court judgment at the Supreme Court, but later withdrew the matter for reasons known to it.

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