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Trade union Solidarity today congratulated the newly appointed Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, on his appointment and wished him all the best in his new role.

However, the trade union also appealed to Gordhan to conduct an urgent investigation without any further delay to determine the extent of the serious and rampant financial mismanagement of the state-owned company Denel under the governance of former minister Lynne Brown.

Solidarity has already communicated with Brown several times over the past week regarding the obvious problems facing Denel. However, these requests as well as serious allegations against the current top management fell on deaf ears despite the fact that the careers of approximately 700 employees at this company are in jeopardy because of looming retrenchments due to the above-mentioned mismanagement.

Solidarity Deputy General Secretary Deon Reyneke therefore called on Gordhan to conduct a speedy investigation into this financial mismanagement as well as into misrepresentations made by the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and the Chairperson of the Board, and to come up with concrete steps to halt the current downward trajectory experienced by Denel.

Reyneke added that the trade union would like to work with Gordhan to find solutions at Denel, and said that the trade union was looking forward to constructive talks with the Minister.

Issued by Solidarity