STATE ENTERPRISES
Pravin Gordhan assures union he will sort out Denel
Newly appointed Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has promised trade union Uasa that he will attend to the crisis at state-owned arms manufacturer Denel. During a meeting with the union on Tuesday, the minister also said he was concerned that a number of state-owned enterprises, including Denel, could soon run out of cash. Denel confirmed in December 2017 that it was experiencing a severe liquidity crunch, which had resulted in the delayed payment of workers’ salaries. The government had to issue the company with an emergency loan guarantee of R580m to ensure that it paid suppliers and its 4,000 staff. Uasa and Solidarity, which also has members at Denel, have blamed management and the Denel board for the financial crisis, saying they had been complicit in corrupt dealings that enriched the Gupta family. "We appealed to the minister for his urgent intervention to put a stop to the plans of Denel [retrenchments] by way of conducting a full forensic audit and an investigation...
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