The Story of Sezela Sugar Mill
We are all familiar with the industrial behemoth to the north of Bazley that belches clouds of white steam and the delightful caramel smell of molasses turning to sugar. It was at one time the biggest sugar mill in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Beginnings: John Bazley’s Vision
Perhaps its origins could be traced to the moment John Bazley and his young son William crested the hills south of what became his farm and life’s work. His legendary words “Nil desperandum” (never despair) became the name of his farm and his family’s work ethic.
Building the First Sugar Estate
The Bazleys immediately set about building a sugar estate and eventually two water-driven sugar mills on the banks of the Ifafa River. Although John had left a career in the steam railway business, he decided to harness the power of the Ifafa River to drive the crushers in his mills. They built a tunnel for the water to return to the river, and we believe it was the first tunnel built in Natal, if not South Africa.
Ingenuity and Expansion
His ingenuity knew no limits. The conduits for the sugar juices were made of Natal bamboo, and his furnaces were lined with soapstone, which he quarried nearby and could withstand more heat than fire bricks. When a shaft broke, he used Natal ironwood until a replacement arrived months later. The estate reached the point where they had 2,700 oxen pulling wagons of cane to the mill and had 4,500 acres under cane.
Transition and Modernisation
By the early 1900s, the Bazley estates had been sold to Reynolds Brothers. The South Coast railway line was complete, and it made sense to build a new sugar mill on the line and to use the railway to bring in cane. Places like Bazley and Ifafa had sidings where cane was loaded and taken to Sezela. Up until the 1980s, sugar was carried on a network of narrow-gauge railways that spread like a spider’s web from the mill, inland.
The Birth of Sezela Sugar Mill
In 1914, Reynolds Brothers Limited ordered a mill from John McNeil & Co in Glasgow, Scotland. It was commissioned in 1915, and in 1922 a second train was installed. The mill and estates were taken over by C.G. Smith, Illovo Sugar, and ultimately Associated British Foods, the current owners. These companies established sugar mills from Port Shepstone to Pongola, making the KZN sugar industry a massive and successful industry.
Production and By-products
The mill processes approximately 1.95 million tons of sugar cane per year during a typical 38-week crushing season (between April and December), which yields 210,000 tons of sugar annually. Additionally, it generates 87,000 tons of molasses and 21,000 tons of furfural as by-products of the sugar production process.
Impact on the Community
The mill has played a significant role in the development of the area. Indian indentured laborers were brought from India to work in the mill, and despite challenging conditions, they chose to stay and contribute to Sezela’s growth.
