Sound Denel death knell

The only long-term solution for Denel is to put it into bankruptcy and close it down (Denel can pay employees until March – but needs a long-term liquidity solution, January 30). Denel has never been economically viable. It is an apartheid-era monstrosity that should have been throttled in 1994. Billions upon billions of taxpayer resources have been poured down the drain chasing the spurious rationale that killing foreigners for profit is a lucrative business.

During the 1994-95 Cameron commission of inquiry into Armscor, the Anglican Church called for Armscor and Denel to be dismantled and their assets converted into peaceful purposes. The commission confirmed that Armscor was managerially incompetent and corrupt, but succumbed to Nelson Mandela’s view that postapartheid SA would pursue an ethical arms trade policy to earn foreign exchange and create jobs.

The arms industry is capital intensive rather than labour intensive and is the world’s worst creator of jobs. SA’s desperate need for education, health and social upliftment resources should be our financial priority.

Why are we squandering billions on yet another Gupta scam? Let the banks, which failed to do any due diligence, suffer the consequences.

Terry Crawford-Browne Milnerton