Senior Denel staff without full salaries this month

State-owned arms manufacturer Denel was unable to pay its senior staff members their full salary this month, reports EWN. This comes after scandals that have engulfed the company after former President Jacob Zuma’s tenure.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently committed to rooting out corrupt officials, he said when addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York. This would help grow South Africa’s economy. “Once we clean up our act in a number of SOEs as well as government departments, that will position South Africa much more as an investment destination,” he said.

The country’s military equipment producer’s struggles come as a blow to Ramaphosa’s pledge, as it still finds itself in the midst of Zuma and Gupta scandals.

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In the Gupta emails, it was allegedly revealed Zuma’s lawyer Lungisani Daniel Mantsha was “hand-picked” by the Gupta family and “cultivated” into the man who helped them attempt to capture influence and contracts at Denel, Daily Maverick reported in July.

Mantsha became the chair of Denel in 2015. The Gupta emails allegedly reveal he promptly set about sharing Denel’s confidential information with Gupta associate Ashu Chawla and met with the family in India and Dubai on “five-star trips”.

Denel now needs critical funding and financial support.

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