On Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa wants to deepen and grow cooperation with India when it comes to defence procurement

by Clement Manyathela

JOHANNESBURG - Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan says that Denel must get its house in order first before it can start doing business with India.

On Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa wants to deepen and grow cooperation with India when it comes to defence procurement.

After 13 years of being barred from doing business in that country over corruption allegations, the arms manufacturing company was finally removed from the country’s list of blacklisted companies last year.

President Ramaphosa says that defence procurement is one of the areas that his government is extending cooperation with India.

"They want to Denel to participate in their defence industry, so that's exactly what we'll be working to do."

But Pravin Gordhan says that the embattled, cash-strapped company must be fixed first.

"The first priority for Denel is to get it to work properly. As you know we now have a new board, new CEO and we'll now put a management team together for the CEO. Secondly, we must get the operations of Denel into real shape and then we can start making some money."

He says that once all that is done, government will have a clear road ahead, describing India as an important market for Denel to enter.