Denel pays R4 million to Solidarity for salaries
17 September 2021
Solidarity today received an amount of R4 million from Denel to pay the salaries of its members at Denel Land Systems and Denel Dynamics that are in arrears. This followed after Solidarity had obtained a court order in March this year to seize some of Denel’s assets, and Solidarity had arranged to auction off these assets today.
“The payment of the salary money to Solidarity is a major victory for Solidarity and its members. Their salaries have been looted for more than a year while the state institution refused to fulfil its responsibilities. However, Solidarity refused to accept such laxity from the state and Denel and applied constant pressure in order to force Denel to comply with the court order that was made last year,” said Solidarity Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann.
Currently, the salaries paid only include salaries from May 2020 - July 2020, as specified in the court order of 4 August 2020. However, on 07 October 2021 another case will be heard in the Johannesburg Labour Court in which Solidarity will challenge Denel in court on the outstanding salaries of every Solidarity member who have worked at Denel for the period from August 2020 to the present.
"Because Eskom gets away with the interrupted supply of power (load shedding), Denel thinks it can do the same with the interrupted payment of salaries. The state institution expects loyalty from his employees but fails to pay them. We will not allow this, and we will once again challenge Denel in court to fulfil its obligations. It is a shame that we constantly have to go to court simply to force an organisation to pay its own employees’ salaries,” Hermann explained.
"Solidarity has taken a stand, not only against Denel's failure, but against corruption and the looting of tax money. This major blow against corruption is only the first of many. We are fed up with a government that provides shelter to looters and does not take action against offenders. Our tax money is being misused and innocent employees at government agencies and entities are suffering with us because of it. Enough is enough,” Hermann concluded.
See photos and video here.
Issued by Derek Mans, Organiser: Aviation and Defence, Solidarity, 17 September 2021
