More than 4,500 former Bosasa employees say they have been left struggling for years as they wait for outstanding salaries, retrenchment benefits and other payments following the company’s liquidation in 2019.
For many of the workers, the wait has stretched across jobs lost, families divided, homes left unfinished and years of unanswered questions about money they believe they are owed.
Their plight has come under renewed scrutiny after the High Court ordered the company’s liquidators to submit financial records relating to Bosasa, now known as African Global Operations, and entities linked to it.
The documents include bank statements, financial statements, trust deeds, meeting minutes, distribution records and share certificates. The court wants to examine how money, assets and distributions were handled between 2008 and 2021.
The inquiry includes money involving the Bosasa Employees Trust and the Gavin Watson Family Trust.
For former employees, the court order has raised the possibility that information about the handling of the company’s funds could finally emerge. But it has also revived painful memories of a wait that many say has already cost them years of their lives.
‘We Were Supposed To Get Our Funds’
William Mokoena joined the company in 2010 as a driver at one of its mining subsidiaries. When the company closed, he began trying to establish when he would receive money he believed he was owed.
He said former employees repeatedly dealt with the Master of the High Court and were required to submit paperwork, but were not given clear answers about what would happen next.
“We went to the Master of the high court, constantly submitting and signing papers. They never told us what was going to happen; we only knew that we were supposed to get our funds,” he said.
Mokoena said Sanlam only began contacting some former employees in 2025 about signing documents linked to payments. He said the process continued to involve additional paperwork.
“Sanlam told us that three months after signing the papers we would get our money, but they kept wanting more documents signed,” he said.
Some former employees have received payments, but Mokoena said the amounts varied and many workers were still waiting.
“It was this past week when some colleagues in the Eastern Cape said they received some funds, which they called surplus, but some of us didn’t get it,” he said.
“Others got R1,000, another said R800 and another R2,000. Others got the money recently, and others got this money long ago.”
Sanlam confirmed that payments were being processed for eligible members of the African Global Operations Provident Fund. The financial services company said 187 claims had been processed, with about R342,000 distributed.
It said 1,004 members remained eligible for about R2.1 million in outstanding benefits.
The figures represent only the provident fund payments and do not resolve the wider claims about salaries, retrenchment benefits and other money linked to the company’s liquidation.
An Unfinished Home And A Growing Burden
Mokoena said he had received about R200,000 from his provident fund and UIF when the company closed, but that the money was not enough to rebuild his life.
“This has completely destroyed me in my spirit because I have two kids who are [at] university… Even NSFAS is not enough,” he said.
When he lost his job, Mokoena had already started building a home for his late wife, who died in 2018. The house remains unfinished.
“I have 12 kids who rely on me as their breadwinner. I have to go back home to Limpopo to take care of the home.
“I’m old and can’t work anymore. What am I going to eat? They have my money.”
His account reflects the pressure faced by former employees who say they were forced to survive without the payments they expected after years of service.
Some have been able to find other work, while others say their age, health and the length of time they have been unemployed have made it difficult to start again.
Workers Say They Were Failed
Rabelani Masindi worked at Bosasa’s youth detention centres. He said former employees had been failed by institutions and organisations that were expected to assist them.
“We were failed by the Master of the high court, the liquidator and also the unions. They were there, but they failed to assist us,” he said.
Masindi said the financial strain had affected the health and well-being of former colleagues. Some workers had died while the process was continuing, leaving their families to deal with the consequences.
“Some of our colleagues have even passed, some having [died by suicide] and no one can represent those families. Others are sick because of the working conditions they endured; they can’t afford medical bills and maybe, if they had gotten their funds, they’d be able to live.”
The former workers’ complaints now sit alongside the court’s demand for records showing how the company’s money and assets were dealt with over more than a decade.
The records could assist in tracing transactions, distributions and the movement of funds between Bosasa and entities linked to it. They could also help clarify the role of the trusts identified in the court proceedings.
‘They’ve Destroyed Us From The Inside’
Dumsani Mnguni and Lesedi Motshabi were dismissed while working in correctional facilities. Mnguni said losing his income had caused his family life to collapse.
“My woman is gone with the children. I’m staying in a shack. I can’t even afford to buy myself food.”
Mnguni said years of unemployment had left him struggling to repair the damage caused by the loss of his job.
“You don’t have anything. Phones are breaking, everything is broken, guys. I’m broke. I don’t want to prolong this, but they’ve destroyed us. Those people have destroyed us from the inside.”
He said former workers had spent years asking to be absorbed into correctional services so they could continue earning an income and support their families.
For the workers, the liquidation process has not simply been a matter of waiting for money to be distributed. They say it has affected their ability to pay for food, housing, healthcare and education, while leaving families dependent on people who no longer have a regular income.
The court’s order has placed the company’s records at the centre of the dispute. The liquidators are expected to provide the documents needed to examine how funds, assets and distributions were handled between 2008 and 2021.
As that process continues, former employees remain focused on the money they say is still owed to them and on finding out why the wait has lasted so long.
For Mokoena and thousands of others, the issue is not a distant corporate dispute. It is money they say was meant to help them provide for their families after their jobs disappeared.
