A briefing to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises by the top management of Denel on Wednesday brought home the scale of the collapse at the State-owned defence industrial group over the past seven years. (In their presentation, Denel executives used 2016 as their baseline year.) From a staff complement of 4 952 in 2016, the group had fallen to a headcount of just 1 670 this year. From an orderbook worth R23.584-billion in 2016, it now had one worth R8.795-billion. Revenues had gone from R8.229-billion in 2016 to R1.466-billion for the financial year ending March 31 this year.
