Dark Christmas for Daybreak workers as payout remain stalled

Delmas — Hundreds of Daybreak Foods employees face Christmas without income as retrenchment processes remain stalled and government relief funding has yet to be approved, leaving families without income and clarity just weeks before Christmas.

With retrenchments frozen, stipends unchanged for months and the Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) still pending, workers say they are bracing for hunger, mounting debt and uncertainty about the year ahead.

Daybreak Foods, once a major employer in Mpumalanga’s agricultural sector, has been under business rescue since May 2025 and is now at the centre of a deepening financial and humanitarian crisis. Since then, more than half of its workforce has been placed on unpaid status and survives on a monthly stipend of R1,500.

On 08 December 2025, frustration boiled over again as workers protested outside the company’s Sundra facility, blocking surrounding roads with burning tyres and makeshift barricades. Protesters demanded urgent intervention and clarity on their future. “We are going into Christmas with nothing, not even enough to buy bread for a week,” one worker said. Another worker, Mahlatshi Malatsi, told Highveld Chronicle that families were being pushed to breaking point. “We understand processes, but we are hungry. Our children will open the fridge on Christmas Day and find nothing. How do we tell them that Christmas is cancelled?”

The tragedy unfolding at Daybreak Foods did not emerge overnight. The company’s decline traces back to years of financial mismanagement, operational instability and recurring labour conflicts.

At its peak, the company employed about 2,800 employees and played a significant role in rural communities around Delmas and Sundra. As losses mounted and cashflow evaporated, workers experienced late salaries, shortages of feed supplies and, eventually, suspension of operations at several sites. Earlier this year, the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) raised alarms when inspections revealed dire animal welfare conditions at some of Daybreak’s facilities.

Thousands of birdsbirds were culled due to feed shortages and insufficient staff presence, a direct consequence of the company’s inability to pay wages. In May 2025, the company entered business rescue in a desperate bid to stabilise operations, negotiate with creditors and salvage what remains of the business. By the time workers gathered earlier in the week, frustration had been simmering for months. Protesters raised three key issues: the stalled retrenchment process, the absence of increased financial support, and the unfairness they perceive in the allowance structure paid to members of the workers’ committee.

“We are not asking for luxuries,” a single mother Nomvula Nkosi said. “We just want to survive. We want to work or at least know when our payout packages are coming so we can start planning for our lives.”

Tensions intensified further when workers learned that the appointed workers’ committee which acts as a liaison between employees and the business rescue practitioner receives a monthly allowance of around R5,000. This, workers argue, represents an injustice during a period of collective suffering.

Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP) Tebogo Maoto confirmed the allowance, saying it covers travel, meals and administrative duties. Workers’ hopes for festive-season relief were further dashed when Daybreak issued a formal circular on 02 December 2025, stating: “There was no promise made to employees that they would receive any additional amount over and above the current salary payment provisions. The Company remains financially distressed and is dependent on TERS assistance. At no time did the Company undertake, promise, or commit to making any additional payments.”

A second circular dated 03 December provided more insight into the company’s internal assessments and ongoing challenges. The document summarised the outcomes of a meeting between the BRP and workers at the Sundra Abattoir.

Workers had asked whether Daybreak could raise stipends in December to help families cope with holiday expenses. The BRP rejected the possibility, saying: “The Company’s cashflow position remains severely strained; it is not in a position to increase stipend payments in the short-term.”

The BRP also said there are negotiations to lease the company’s cold storage facilities, which could provide additional revenue.On TERS, the BRP said: “The TERS Committee has not provided a formal response, the Company has complied with all requests from TERS.”

Speaking to the Highveld Chronicle, BRP Tebogo Maoto stressed that the company’s immediate future hinges on the TERS outcome.

“The unavoidable retrenchment process will be initiated once the Company obtains clarity on the outcome of the TERS application,” Maoto told Highveld Chronicle.