Board shakeup at arms manufacturer Denel
Former Airports Company SA CEO Monhla Hlahla is the new board chairperson at Denel.
Public Enterprise Minister Pravin Gordhan announced the appointment of a new board for the cash-strapped state-owned arms manufacturer on Monday.
This followed a meeting he held with the board to discuss issues that needed urgent attention at the state-owned enterprise (SOE).
The new board is interim‚ pending confirmation by the Cabinet. Other new board members appointed are:
- Zoli Kunene
- Tshilidzi Marwala
- Gen Themba Matanzima
- Gloria Serobe
- Talib Sadiq
- Sue Rabkin
- Sibusiso Sibisi
- Cheryl Carolus
- Nonzukiso Siyotula
- Thami Magazi
- Martin Mnisi
Gordhan said the changing of the Denel board was the first step the government was taking to ensure that good governance was restored and that the role the SOE played in state capture was reversed.
The minister said the immediate priorities for the board were to restore corporate governance‚ review the effectiveness of the management team‚ review major contracts‚ review the company’s financial position and consult all stakeholders.
In March‚ a few days after Gordhan was appointed public enterprises minister‚ Denel board chairperson Daniel Mantsha resigned.
Mantsha and Denel have been implicated in allegations of state capture.
Gordhan said the changes to the Denel board were in line with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call during his state of the nation address to fix issues at SOEs‚ many of which had been implicated in allegations of state capture.
Ramaphosa spoke about configuring the way SOEs worked and how their boards were appointed.
In his first Cabinet reshuffle‚ Ramaphosa axed then public enterprises minister Lynne Brown and replaced her with Gordhan.
Brown and her predecessor‚ Malusi Gigaba‚ have been accused of peppering the boards of the country’s SOEs with associates of the controversial Gupta family.
- BusinessLIVE