Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg has been appointed to the new interim board of Denel, South Africa’s state-owned defence company. Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced the appointment of a new interim board for Denel on 9 April 2018.

The immediate priorities for the new interim board will be:

• To restore sound corporate governance;

• To review the effectiveness of the management team;

• To review major contracts;

• To review the company’s financial position with the view to creating sustainability; and

• To consult all stakeholders

The new board will also include: Zoli Kunene, General Themba Matanzima, Gloria Serobe, Talib Sadik, Sue Rabkin, Dr Sibusiso Sibisi, Cheryl Carolus, Nonzukiso Siyotula, Thami Magazi and Martin Mnisi.

Prof Marwala has received in excess of 45 honours and awards, including the Order of Mapungubwe and was the first African engineer to be awarded the National Research Foundation’s President’s award. His academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (magna cum laude) from Case Western Reserve University (USA), a Master of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pretoria and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Engineering from Cambridge University. He completed a post-doctoral research associateship at the Imperial College (London) and a programme for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School. Prof Marwala is a registered professional engineer, a fellow of TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences), the Academy of Science of South Africa, the African Academy of Sciences, the South African Academy of Engineering, a senior member of the IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and a distinguished member of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery).

Denel SOC is the largest manufacturer of defence equipment in South Africa and operates in the military aerospace and landward defence environment. Incorporated as a private company in 1992 in terms of the South African Companies Act (No 62 of 1973), Denel’s sole shareholder is the South African Government.