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Denel welcomes the confidence in its ability to achieve a turnaround in the business and build a sustainable organisation, expressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday during the response to the debate on the State Of The Nation Address.

Danie du Toit, the Group Chief Executive of Denel says the company is busy with a comprehensive programme to restore good corporate governance, reduce costs and find new opportunities for growth, especially in export markets.

“The support given to us by the President in Parliament will help us to position Denel as a reliable designer and manufacturer of world-class defence and technology systems,” says Du Toit. “Our reputation took a severe battering with the revelations about state capture and widespread irregularities in the company, but we are taking determined steps to get it back on track.

“The positive sentiments expressed by both President Ramaphosa and Public Enterprise Minister, Pravin Gordhan, will help to restore confidence in Denel among existing and prospective clients, suppliers and employees,” says Du Toit.

In his remarks Mr Gordhan described Denel as “a crucial and strategic state entity that was substantially harmed by state capture.” He also noted that Denel is improving the way that it contracts and is renegotiating existing contracts to improve the margins it earns on such business.

Du Toit says Denel supports President Ramaphosa’s vision of a new landscape in which state-owned companies have the expertise, leadership and appropriate financial models to fulfil their mandates. They have a critical role to play, together with the private sector, in driving economic growth and transformation.

“We appreciate the recent opportunity to meet with the President together with other state-owned companies to identify the challenges we experience. We are looking forward to work together in the Presidential SOE Council,” says Du Toit.

Issued by Denel