The Sugar Industry Appeals Tribunal is an in-house body created by legislation and designed to provide the Sugar Industry with a specialised dispute resolution forum.

The Sugar Act No 9 of 1978 makes provision for the promulgation of a Sugar Industry Agreement.  The Sugar Industry Agreement provides the detailed rules for the functioning of the Sugar Industry in the country.  Amongst its provisions is the creation of the Sugar Industry Appeals Tribunal.

The Appeals Tribunal consists of five members functioning as a collective.  Three of those are non-industry members appointed by the South African Sugar Association.  It is a qualification to their appointment that the independent non-industry members have no association, direct or indirect, with the South African Sugar Industry.  The other two members of the Appeals Tribunal are industry members, one of whom is appointed by the Millers’ Association and the other by the Growers’ Association.

The Appeals Tribunal is accordingly structured to provide a careful balance between independence and specialised industry knowledge.  The result is a forum to which the Industry can refer its disputes in the comfort and with the assurance that such disputes will be dealt with not only fairly and expeditiously but on the basis of an intimate appreciation of the workings of the Sugar Industry.

The Appeals Tribunal has adopted a logo which represents the synergy and inter-dependence between the Appeals Tribunal and the rest of the Sugar Industry. The green depicts the cane which is at the heart of the Sugar Industry whilst the yellow represents the sun, together with its light, which is essential for the cane to grow and prosper. The synergy and inter-dependence between the cane and the sun is symbolic of the synergy and inter-dependence between the Appeals Tribunal and the Sugar Industry. At the heart lies the industry with the Appeals Tribunal shedding light onto the conflicts within the industry, thus helping it to grow and prosper. The yellow sun which lies at the heart of the logo represents the dawn of a stronger and more relevant Appeals Tribunal dedicated to serve the particular needs of the Sugar Industry.