Riyaz Patel
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will use the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to request access to preliminary investigation report documents relating to what is called the “unlawful Gupta-linked deal” which Denel entered into with Chad.
Weekend reports indicated that state-arms firm Denel failed to supply R250mn worth of army vehicles to the Chad government, despite been paid a R100mn down payment almost two years ago.
Chad bought 40 military Casspirs from Denel in 2017, but the company could not deliver the vehicles while officials squabbled over the ownership of the lucrative intellectual property (IP) rights – which had been given to the Gupta family for free – to build the vehicles, City Press reports.
Chad has since cancelled the contract and demanded its deposit back from the state-owned cash-strapped arms entity, damaging relations between N’Djamena and Pretoria.
The DA said it’s in the best interest of the South African public that findings of the investigation into the State Owned Enterprise (SOE) be made public. This, the party added, will ensure that any of these “damning findings that pinpoint several senior officials and politicians are not be buried.”
“Through the PAIA application, the DA is making it clear to this embattled SOE that we will not compromise on our commitment for transparency and accountability and no protection should be given to corrupt cadres and officials,” said Natasha Mazzone, the DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises.
“The DA will also be submitting Parliamentary Questions, to the Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, to find out if there is any other similar contracts, which Denel cannot deliver on.”
Mazzone said her party will continue to fight to root out corruption in all SOEs, “and will not back down until all implicated government officials are brought to book for their abuse of state resources.”
“We need to stop the continued misuse of SOEs for political gain and those found guilty, must be held accountable to the full extent of the law.”
Last month, Denel received a much-needed bailout of R1.8bn from the National Treasury.
