NATIONAL NEWS - The Liberated Metalworkers Union of South Africa (Limusa) on Monday rejected the appointment of Daniel du Toit as the group chief executive of state-owned arms manufacturer Denel, saying the minister of public enterprises must implement employment equity recommendations.
The department of public enterprises last month announced Du Toit as the new group chief executive after Cabinet approved the appointment. He is expected to assume duty on January 14, 2019.
This comes after Zwelakhe Ntshepe resigned with immediate effect as Denel chief executive in May after 20 years at the company, citing personal reasons, and was replaced with Michael Kgobe, the chief executive of subsidiary Denel Aeronautics, in an acting capacity.
Siboniso Mdletshe, Limusa general-secretary, said they found it “disgusting and very irresponsible” for a state-owned entity like Denel to ignore the findings of the Hoefyster Employment Equity Compliance Assessment (HEECA) report and to employ a white male as the group chief executive.
Denel Land Systems’ report on employment equity compliance status pointed out areas where the company needed to improve in relation to the appointment and promotion of black South Africans.
“One of the recommendations in the HEECA report, which we fully support, is that Denel must immediately stop the appointment and employment of white males in important positions,” Mdletshe said.
“That recommendation was based on the finding that Denel [seems] to be overlooking other races when it comes to employment in strategic positions and we as Limusa raised this complaint with Denel in 2017 as we saw black professionals, in particular, being overlooked in favour of white and Indian males.”
Mdletshe said they had learnt Black Management Forum was legally challenging Denel on the appointment of Du Toit. Black Management Forum was not immediately available for comment.
