Staude and other top managers, have been implicated in the irregularities and the company is taking civil action against them. Hudson has shaken up the group's corporate governance and management, focusing on transparency and accountability and begun work on its debt, which stood at R12.6 billion in March this year. In the past six months Tongaat has put R5.76 billion towards the debt, against a target of a R8.1 billion debt reduction by 30 September 2021. The group's headline loss improved to R6 million, from R517 million in 2019.