*Mahlako is scrambling around, looking for a quick loan to pay the balance on a lay-by he put on Christmas clothes for his five children.
Like dozens of his other colleagues, Mahlako, a Denel employee, last received his full salary in May last year.
The state-owned arms manufacturer owes its staff hundreds of millions of rand in salaries and about R900m is owed to suppliers.
Denel's available cash is insufficient to meet operational requirements, including the payment of salaries and suppliers.
ANC employees are also facing a bleak Christmas as the governing party owes them three months in unpaid wages. Salaries for August and September were only paid about a week ago.
Mahlako, who is owed in excess of R200,000 in unpaid salaries, has already accepted that he will not be travelling to his home village in Limpopo and that his family will not be having their traditional family braai on Christmas Day.
“The effects of not receiving our full salaries have been dire. Now I'm unable to get my children clothes for Christmas,” Mahlako said.
Despite his situation, this is one responsibility Mahlako wants to fulfil as it's a long-standing tradition.
“I did lay-bye the clothes but now I am unable to pay them off, so I'm having to run around trying to borrow so I could get them out before Christmas but I'm not sure if I will come right.
“There has never been one Christmas where they had a doubt that they won't get the Christmas clothes, even now it's not sinking in for them as I tell them that I will go and get them,” he said.
Mahlako has often needed help from his brother to be able to take care of his children and his unemployed wife who are solely relying on him for everything.
He said if the Denel “mess is not sorted out by February” he will be left with no choice but to resign so that he could be able to take care of his two bond repayments.
*Vuyo, another Denel employee, now depends on his wife who takes care of the children's schooling needs, including school fees and transport.
“That thing which says you, as a man, are the head of the family is now gone for me. I'm facing a sad reality,” Vuyo said.
His credit record has been messed up by 19 months of missed repayments due to his salary not getting paid in full. “If Denel was transparent with us last year and said: 'There's no future here', we could have resigned and left but now it's too late,” he said.
According to his calculations, he's owed in excess of R400,000 in unpaid salaries and is already facing a possibility of losing his home after he was served with papers by his bank.
“I sold one of my cars last year to settle the arrears on my bond, now it's back to square one as I'm back where I was and there's a chance that I may lose my house,” he said.
Another Denel employee expressed anger at the possibility of facing another Christmas without enough money to provide for his family.
“In a few days, some of us will be celebrating another Christmas with our families without food again while our executives and officials will enjoy holidays eating and drinking with their families,” the employee said.
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) was recently granted a court order by the high court in Pretoria which compelled Denel to pay outstanding salaries and benefits dating back to May last year but the company failed to honour the order.
Numsa national spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said they were back in court trying to ensure that the court order is adhered to and that workers can get their salaries as soon as possible.
“We will be pursuing a legal case to force Denel to pay the money. There's a court order, so we expect them to respect the court order to pay workers the money... that's the course of action we will be pursuing,” Hlubi-Majola said.
* Not their real names
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.