Trade union Solidarity will hold the first of several auctions of State-owned defence company Denel’s assets on July 15.
Solidarity seized these assets earlier this year owing to Denel’s failure to pay about R90-million in debt to Solidarity members in terms of a court order.
The seizure and auctioning of assets is now the only option after Denel violated several agreements between the parties, the union says.
“This auction covers only a small part of our claim, but this is merely the first phase. We have also seized Denel Corporate’s bank account and more auctions will follow until we finally obtain the full amount,” says Solidarity public sector deputy secretary-general Helgard Cronjé.
Some employees at Denel had to make do with only partial and sometimes no salary payments for more than two years.
“Denel has taken away far too much from our members. It is unacceptable that ordinary workers have to sacrifice their livelihoods simply because of the indecision and negligence of the company’s shareholder, the State.
“This is intolerable and steps must be taken against this. The message is now clear: If Denel does not want to pay, then we will get our members their due through the seizure and auctioning of Denel’s assets,” Cronjé says.
The auction will take place on 10:00 on July 15 at Denel's head office, in Lyttelton, Centurion.