Denel to claw back pilot bursary awarded to Supra Mahumapelo’s son

State arms manufacturer Denel has launched proceedings to recover a bursary worth more than R1m that was allocated to Supra Mahumapelo’s son, Oarabile, to become a pilot.

This comes after an investigation by Denel’s board found that the bursary was illegally awarded.

The finding was presented on Wednesday before parliament’s public enterprises committee by Talib Sadik, the chairperson of the audit committee at Denel.

Sadik said the committee found that Oarabile’s bursary was not advertised in line with the parastatal’s policy and it had not been approved by their group bursary committee.

Sadik also said the air school that Oarabile was attending was not an approved study institution in terms of the Denel bursary policy.

He said the bursary had been terminated and the matter referred to the police for criminal investigation, while the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) had been asked to launch civil proceedings to recover the money from the Mahumapelos.