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The Johannesburg Labour Court today ordered Denel to make payment within the next 10 days of R90 million to Solidarity members. This comes after Solidarity pursued a lawsuit against Denel over overdue salaries and other payments due to Solidarity members. This case follows a previous success when Solidarity received warrants to seize Denel property to the value of R12 million and Denel finally paid.

According to Solidarity Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann, this is a huge victory for Solidarity members, some of whom have not received their full pay since May 2020.

“We are incredibly grateful for the relief this order brings to our members. Our members had to do their work almost continuously without full pay and this amid the major uncertainty and challenges the Covid-19 pandemic brought,” Hermann said. “Although we are, of course, delighted with the outcome it is still a crying shame that we have to approach the courts on an ongoing basis to force state entities to fulfil their duties towards employees.

If Denel does not make the required payments within 10 days, Solidarity will instruct the sheriff to seize Denel's assets. "We cannot allow workers' money to be used to fund mismanagement and looting," Hermann said.

According to Solidarity, it is a shame that the president and other cabinet members come with smart talk about future plans while workers at state entities almost have to starve.

Solidarity says its next step is to make sure that those who are responsible for this mismanagement are brought to book.

“We cannot allow that our members and ordinary taxpayers have to carry the can for the state’s mismanagement anymore while the plunderers can simply carry on plundering with impunity. We have to take matters further. We will now carry on with litigation and will file criminal charges to ensure that those who caused this mess be held accountable for it,” Hermann said.

Issued by Solidarity