- Hippo Valley Estate
Hippo Valley Estate is a sugar estate found in the town of
Chiredzi in southeasternZimbabwe ,on the Runde River near the border withMozambique .Background
It was eastablished in 1956 as a citrus estate and soon it diversified with the first cane planted three years later in 1959. [AngloAmerica Ops [http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/static/uploads/HIPPO%20SEAT%20REPORT.pdf] (accessed 02/28/2008)] Canned Hippo Valley fruit was exported across southern
Africa until the 1970s. [AngloAmerica Ops [http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/static/uploads/HIPPO%20SEAT%20REPORT.pdf] (accessed 02/28/2008)] In the wake of the sugar marker crush in 1975, the estate initiated irrigation programs to water it's sugar plantations. [AngloAmerica Ops [http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/static/uploads/HIPPO%20SEAT%20REPORT.pdf] (accessed 02/28/2008)] Today day, it is the major producer of sugar and in conjunction withTriangle Estate , has a fifty:fight holding in nearbyMkwasine Estate . [AngloAmerica Ops [http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/static/uploads/HIPPO%20SEAT%20REPORT.pdf] (accessed 02/28/2008)]Operations
The sugar plantations cover 124 square kilometres, and the company employs around 5,000 people. Hippo Valley Estate has a capacity of 300000 tonnes of sugar per year, mostly raw
sugar and brown sugar. It also producesmolasseses which is then turned intoethanol . [AngloAmerica Ops [http://www.angloamerican.co.uk/static/uploads/HIPPO%20SEAT%20REPORT.pdf] (accessed 02/28/2008)] It is a major employer of the residents ofTshovani , the lone high density suburb inChiredzi .Stock exchange
The company is a publicly listed company on the Zimbabwean stock exchange (under the ticker HIPPO). The
Tongaat-Hulett Group Limited is the largest shareholder via it's wholly-owned subsidiary Triangle Sugar Corporation Limited and owns 50.35% of Hippo Valley Estates. Other shareholders include Tate & Lyle, the British sugar company (10%). Tongaat-Hulett is in turn owned 50.6% by Anglo South Africa Capital (Pty) LtdRelationship with
Chiredzi The company has a special relationship with the town. In addition to providing schools and healthcare facilities, it also provide all the water used in the town.
Farm Invasions
In
2004 , parts of the estate were listed for confiscation by the government of Zimbabwe as part of its land reform project. Hippo valley is an estate encompassed by the triangle estate and the mkwasini estate, all of them producers of sugar plantation. With the advent of farm invasions that started in 2000, many changes have occurred to the estate as some parts of it have been taken over by peasants. [Sugar Shortage Looms [http://allafrica.com/stories/200802210721.html] (accessed 02/28/2008)] [Parliament Report [http://www.kubatana.net/docs/legisl/ppc_lands_sugar_ind_060606.pdf] (accessed 02/28/2008)] .References
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