Denel employees to be paid full salaries, Gordhan announces
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says Denel employees will get full salaries in June after the government managed to get a lender on board.
Gordhan made the announcement during the debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address at a joint sitting of Parliament on Tuesday.
The arms manufacturer earlier announced it would only be able to pay 85% of salaries.
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In a statement, it notifies its employees that "due to ongoing liquidity challenges, we are now faced with the reality that the company is not in a position to fulfil the 100% salary obligation for June 2019”.
Gordhan told MPs that a private lender came forward to assist the company.
"At Denel, you have seen news headlines today that Denel will only be able to pay 85% of staff salaries for June due to liquidity constraints. However, the latest update is that a lender has come to the assistance of Denel and full salaries will payed to all of the staff at Denel.
"There's no clear examples of the effects of state capture than the financial strain and uncertainty that the 3 500 Denel employees may face each month as consequence of what we have actually seen."
Gordhan noted a new investment case to save struggling South African Airlines (SAA) to prepare airline for partnership.
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He reiterated that shutting the airline is not on the table.