It’s not even the end of the first quarter and already there’s a plethora of once-significant South African companies that have either collapsed or had their share prices hit the wall. The likes of sugar producer Tongaat Hulett, tech provider EOH Holdings, Blue Label Telecoms and Aspen Pharmacare Holdings have lost billions in value, sending tremors through a South African market that was still reeling from the shock of retailer Steinhoff International Holdings’s more than 90% plunge since December 2017. The latest in the sorry line-up was construction company Group Five, which went into administration on Tuesday after running out of funding.
