Paula Luckhoff17 July 2025 | 20:19

Why is Public Investment Corp giving troubled state-owned chicken producer another bailout?

In May, the NSPCA had to cull 200k starving chicks at struggling Daybreak Farms.

Why is Public Investment Corp giving troubled state-owned chicken producer another bailout?

Conditions being checked at a Daybreak farm. Image: NSPCA

The Money Show's Stephen Grootes is joined by Sunday Times investigative reporter Sabelo Skiti.

"Public Investment Corporation Chief Investment Officer, Mr Kabelo Rikhotso, informed SCOPA that the PIC injected R250 million into Daybreak Foods earlier this year and, just a week ago, used its own balance sheet to inject an additional R150 million into the company."

This statement was posted on the official X account of Parliament's finance cluster committees early on Thursday afternoon, followed some hours later by a business rescue plan update.

State-owned Daybreak Farms is hitting the headlines again after an outcry in May when the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) reported it was forced to cull around 200,000 starving birds at a contract grower.

RELATED: NSPCA culls 200k starving chicks at state-owned Daybreak as chicken producer struggles to pay workers

It was reported then that the business was unable to pay its workers, as it's being reported again now.

When asked why the PIC is seemingly throwing good money after bad with this latest R150-million bailout, investigative journalist Sabelo Skiti proffers that the Corporation faces a conundrum where political considerations come into play.

 

"We're just about a year away from key local government elections where we could see the ANC backslide continue."
Sabelo Skiti, Investigative Journalist - Sunday Times

 

He's also aware that there have been tensions amongst the three main clients or 'funders' of the PIC, Skiti says; being the Compensation Fund, the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).


"They keep asking the same question -  why are we putting money into what seems to be a very deep abyss?"
Sabelo Skiti, Investigative Journalist - Sunday Times
"When the PIC goes to these funders for these stopgap funding measures they seldom put up a business case -  it's always about 'let's save these jobs' or 'make sure these entities continue to survive', but the more prudent of the board members will ask why the Corporation representatives are not presenting the numbers."
Sabelo Skiti, Investigative Journalist - Sunday Times

For more detail, listen to the conversation in the interview audio at the top of the article