Court Upholds Government's Sugar Revenue Directive

The big sugar companies in Zimbabwe just lost a big court case. Hippo Valley Estates and Triangle Limited tried to sue the government. They were mad because the government told them they had to give more money to the sugarcane farmers.

The government said the sugar companies have to give 80.5% of the money to the farmers now. And the sugar companies only get to keep 19.5%. The sugar companies said this wasn't fair. They think the government doesn't have the power to do this.

The sugar companies said they need more money to run their business. They have to pay for things like machines, fuel, and workers. They think giving so much to the farmers will make it hard for them to stay in business.

But the government said too bad. They hired some bean counters to look at the books. The bean counters said the farmers deserve more dough. The government said this is only temporary. They want to find a better solution later.

The judge agreed with the government this time. He said the new split is fair for now. He said the government was just trying to keep things stable. Sounds like the sugar companies will just have to deal with it and tighten their belts for a while. That's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.