City Press reports that the Department of Public Enterprises insists that it will continue with the controversial restructuring of crippled state defence company, Denel Group, despite accusations being levelled against Minister Pravin Gordhan as the person behind the crucial decisions regarding which of the entity’s assets to sell and to whom.
The startling allegations are contained in detailed court documents filed in an urgent application at the Labour Court last week, wherein Sello Ntsihlele, suspended CEO of Denel Dynamics (a subsidiary of Denel Group), has accused Gordhan and Denel board chairperson Gloria Serobe of orchestrating his ousting because of his opposition to alleged unlawful instructions from the pair. Ntshihlele is asking the Labour Court to interdict Denel Group from forging ahead with disciplinary action against him because he refused to implement Gordhan and Serobe’s instruction to give newly appointed chief restructuring officer, Riaz Saloojee, unfettered access to company systems as a whole. In his affidavit, Ntsihlele claims Gordhan and Serobe set the tone for his demise when they not only parachuted Saloojee into his position as a board appointment but also warned that those who would not toe the line and follow the board’s instructions would be cut from the organisation. The suspended chief executive alleges that Gordhan – as the chairperson of a meeting on 18 August 2022 – told those in attendance to start filling out resignation forms if they did not agree with his approaches to restructuring of the company. Gordhan retaliated last week, saying that Ntsihlele’s disciplinary process was the prerogative of the board of directors “which must do its work and see it to its logical conclusion without interference or any other attempt to deflect attention from the real issues that pertain to stabilising Denel”. Ntsihlele is facing 24 charges of insubordination.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nkululeko Ncana at City Press (subscriber access only)
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