Another black executive in government has joined the unemployment ranks for allegedly blowing the whistle on wanton capture of public assets by private hands.
Denel Dynamics CEO Sello Ntsihlele and the state’s arms manufacturing company parted ways last month.
This after Denel failed to secure a conviction against him on the 21 charges he faced.
Ntsihlele’s exit was announced in a terse internal memorandum circulated among staff on August 31.
Without further explanation, the company announced that Sipho Khoza would be the new Denel Dynamics interim CEO.
“Please be assured that Denel Dynamics remains a core capability for Denel, and we are committed to successfully repositioning the business to a focused guided weapons capability,” said the interim group chief executive officer Michael Kgobe.
Although the memo did not disclose details of their separation, Sunday World understands Ntsihlele and Denel reached a settlement agreement for him to leave the company.
Ntsihlele joins the likes of former public enterprises director-general Kgathatso Tlhakudi, who was chopped soon after accusing his minister, Pravin Gordhan, of orchestrating the sale of national carrier SAA to a private equity partner for a giveaway R51.
Like Tlhakudi, Ntsihlele also had a fallout with Gordhan.
Their fallout burst on to the public domain after Gordhan was heard yelling at Ntsihlele in a leaked audio recording of a Denel meeting.
In the audio, Gordhan is heard telling Ntsihlele to leave and allow others to run the company.
Ntsihlele had complained, among others, about Denel’s restructuring process, which involved the sale of Denel Dynamics assets to allegedly hand-picked political cronies at a devalued price.
He argued the move threatened to obliterate the SOEs’ missile manufacturing capabilities.
Ntsihlele also opposed the plan to unlock cash through the leasing of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) buildings and relocating the UAVs team to another area on the Irene Campus.
The properties, valued at R600-million each, were allegedly sold for a paltry R200-million, according to him.
After the protracted battle, Ntsihlele took Denel to court.
In the court papers he argued Denel Dynamics’ operations required the facility.
He said the proposed relocation of people would negatively impact ongoing projects. In particular, he mentioned the S400 UAE missile project, which was behind schedule.
In the same week that Denel and Ntsihlele parted ways, Gordhan again failed to appear before the public enterprises’ portfolio committee to respond to Tlhakudi’s allegations.
The allegations include accusations that Gordhan interfered in the selection process and personally favoured the Takatso Consortium as the preferred bidder for the purchase of a 51% shareholding in SAA.
Other black executives who quit the public service amid a fallout with Gordhan were former Eskom CEO Phakamani Hadebe and former SAA CEO Vuyani Jarana.
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