In early December, at the behest of finance minister Enoch Godongwana, South Africa’s National Treasury released €160m to pay off part of the debt of state-owned arms conglomerate Denel. The group, which is in great financial difficulty, is struggling to pay its suppliers and had been unable to pay the salaries of its 3,000 employees since May 2020. Senior executives are leaving the group in large numbers in a movement