Description

The study highlights that the advanced technologies that traditionally equipped the South African National Defence Force for its prime mission are critical enablers of national power without which it would become incapable of executing its constitutionally mandated role and function. Compelled by circumstances of isolation, most of these technologies were by necessity conceptualised, designed, developed and produced by the home-grown South African Defence Industry of which Denel State-Owned Company Limited, is the armament conglomerate owned by the Government of South Africa. The research problem is that the reported decline of SADI in a developmental state is indicative of a lack of understanding of its role and purpose and resultant powerlessness to pursue national interest in the global community of nation states. It is a foregone conclusion that any attempt to understand SADI and its debilitating decline in a developmental state without a normative model may not yield desired outcomes. The overarching aim of this study sought to investigate, evaluate and explain the interconnected reality of SADI with the goals and objectives of a developmental state by means of a normative model. There is limited academic literature attempting to set a normative model to guide managerial-leadership intervention as a repositioning tool to advance and defend national interest. A pragmatic philosophical lens was cast, together with an explanatory sequential mixed method approach to attain the research aim of this study. This led the ontological, epistemological and axiological stance of the study to an abductive reasoning through a case study methodology of Denel SOC Limited. Probability sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to populate a sample size of 350 out of 2 404 Denel employees. Stata-14 software was used for quantitative data analysis. All ethical concerns were cleared. The study found that SADI is interconnected with sovereign interest and it is an instrument of environmental adaptation through nation building, state building and national development crucial for geo-strategic positioning. Overall, the study concluded that managerial leadership informed by systems thinking philosophy, is fundamental for SADI to prosper. These findings position SADI as a strategic and sovereign national asset that must be protected from demise. The novel outcome of this study is a normative model - Naledi ya MOHLOMI - inspired by systems thinking philosophy. Therefore, the model is recommended henceforth as a critical compass for circumnavigating the imminent demise of SADI beyond 2030.