Johannesburg - Former Denel board chairperson Daniel Mantsha maintains that the arms company had strong evidence against suspended executives even though no disciplinary hearing had taken place.
Mantsha was appointed as chairperson of the board in 2015. He resigned in 2018, just months before his three-year term ended.
Testifying at the Commission of Inquiry into allegations of State Capture on Friday, Mantsha was asked about the suspension of former CEO Riaz Soloojee, former CFO Fikile Mhlontlo and former company secretary Elizabeth Africa.
Mantsha revealed that Soloojee received a settlement of R2.4 million. Mantsha said Mhlontlo signed a settlement agreement of R6.6m, which is equivalent to four months of his salary and a bonus of R1.6m, while Africa and the company agreed to early retirement exit, where she received R1.6m (12 months remuneration, including her pension fund).
Evidence leader advocate Paul Kennedy SC asked if Mantsha was aware of the board-approved settlements.
“Yes I am aware that the board approved the settlements. Documents submitted to the commission state the motivation for the settlements.
“We were under tremendous pressure to stabilise the company and so that our business partners can have confidence in us,” said Mantsha.
He maintained that Danel had strong evidence that led to the suspension.
“Soloojee knew that there was a strong case and it was wrong of them to have approved six months bridging finance without the permission of the ministers of finance and public enterprises.”
Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo questioned why there was no disciplinary hearing if the board believed they had a strong case.
Mantsha maintained that a delay in the hearing does not mean the executives were innocent.
“Most members of the Audit and Risk Committee and some members of the Denel board wanted to resign because they felt they were being thrown under the bus. They felt like the appointment of the board is an appointment to a sinking ship.
“I had to try to get the board members to work very hard with the executives and try to convince Nedbank which was very angry as indicated before. Immediately they realised that apart from the fact that they were transactional advisors to Denel, when Denel was acquiring assets, Denel gave Absa R400m cash as a security and gave nothing to Nedbank,” said Mantsha.
He said at that point, Nedbank didn't want to hear anything because they felt they were “doomed’’.
The commission will also hear Eskom related evidence from the Eskom's former chief financial officer Anoj Singh at 4pm.
Political Bureau