Denel acting CEO Zwelakhe Ntshepe
Photo by: Duane Daws
Denel has taken to the High Court of South Africa in Gauteng to clear up doubts over the legal standing of Denel Asia, a joint venture (JV) with VR Laser Asia.
The State-owned defence group on Friday applied to the High Court in Pretoria for an order declaring that it obtained approval to form the JV with VR Laser Asia and that Denel Asia was duly established after following and complying with all the relevant prescripts of the Public Finance Management Act.
“In spite of the company’s numerous attempts to work with the National Treasury to explain the legal processes followed in establishing the Denel Asia JV, this matter remains unresolved and continues to unfairly cast doubt on Denel’s reputation and governance regime,” said Denel acting group CEO Zwelakhe Ntshepe.
This has led to negative perceptions from various stakeholders, clients and potential clients, which has impeded the company’s ability to do business effectively.
“As a result of the unresolved legal standing of the company, Denel has already missed out on a number of lucrative business opportunities,” Ntshepe said in a statement.
Denel pointed to the several equity partnerships, joint ventures and cooperation agreements with various companies in the global defence industry that were all established following the same process used in establishing Denel Asia.
Denel’s founding affidavit cites Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and the National Treasury as the first and second respondents respectively.