State arms manufacturer Denel got off to a bad start this year after it emerged that it will possibly lay-off more than a thousand workers.

This comes after government injected R4, 1billion of taxpayers’ money to Denel’s grand restructuring and export programmes which were exposed to be not up to snuff.

At least 125 workers in the aviation division were expected to loose their jobs with immediate effect.

Further job- redundancies in Denel’s ammunition division were also predicted as embattled Denel chief executive officer Shaun Liebenberg is reportedly preparing to jump the ship and join the German armaments company Rhein Metall which bought over 51% majority shares of the state (SA) ammunition division.

Other massive job losses were anticipated in the non-core Special Protein Plant (SPP), Arrivia.com, Dendistru, Irenco and Co-Source (IT) companies which have been disposed of to black economic empowerment consortia.

The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) is also struck with horror to learn that Denel overspent by R350 million while other money-spinning programmes including Aerospace EBB Marshals upgrade, Gripen technology, Cheetah Product Support, Hawk Final Assembly, Boeing 707 Product Support were completed and some decommissioned by the SA Air Force.

Meanwhile R6 million losses in addition to R15, 3 m under recovery, were projected for the next financial year as a result and completion of these programmes will also serve to exacerbate the job destruction crisis.

Numsa is disgusted that even employees in the managerial, supervisory, technical, artisans and business support job categories were also affected by retrenchments, which meant the general workers and aids would be the hardest hit.

It boils down to the same conclusion we made earlier of the now “unavoidable retrenchments” in the words of Denel CEO Liebenberg, that nothing will to stop job destruction which is expected to the tune of 7 000 jobs as Denel analysis confirmed that these losses will spiral to an R53 m operating loss by 2013.

=Liebenberg’s radical and ambitious restructuring plans to position the state enterprise for profitability and sustainability have all fizzled into thin air as things looked too ghastly to contemplate for even the reserved white artisan positions which were affected by planned retrenchments.

Further talks to explore alternatives to retrenchments will continue on March 7, 2008 and it remains to be seen whether these negotiations would find lasting resolution to these job destruction.

End.

For further information contact:

Mziwakhe Hlangani, Numsa national spokesperson

Cell phone: 082 9407116

E-mail : mziwakheh@numsa.org.za

Source

Numsa Press Releases