Government committed to saving Denel: Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed government’s commitment to ensure the survival of the state-owned arms manufacturer Denel.

He says Denel is important to ensuring that South Africa retains its arms manufacturing capability.

Answering questions in the National Assembly, Ramaphosa says there is still a lot of interest from other countries around the continent in buying military equipment from South Africa.

He added that South Africa cannot afford to lose Denel’s manufacturing ability, especially given the current situation in the world where some countries easily resort to conflict.

President Cyril Ramaphosa answers questions in Parliament:

He says he would like to see the company back on its feet and performing more profitably as part of the state-owned enterprises.

“In the broader geopolitics of the world, you do not as an industrialised country that we are, let go of a company like Denel.

A Denel that will be able to build, manufacture the type of equipment that we need in this day and age given the propensity of a number of powers to resort to violence rather than to resolve problems through negotiation.”