■ SOUTH AFRICA: Denel Aviation to retrench 523 as SAAF confirms contract will not be renewed.

523 aircraft maintenance specialists at Denel Aviation’s Aero Manpower Group, the MRO division of the South Africa's government-backed Denel Corporation, are to be retrenched as a result of the South African Air Force (SAAF) deciding against renewing its contract with the firm, set to lapse next year.

■ SOUTH AFRICA: Wreckage of missing SAAF C47 found in the Drakensburg; 11 dead.

The wreckage of a South African National Defence Force C47TP Dakota (the military version of a DC3) belonging to 35Squadron, that went missing in heavy weather on Wednesday near Nelson Mandela’s home town of Qunu, en route from Pretoria's Waterkloof Air Force Base to Mthatha, Eastern Cape, has been found in the Drakensburg Mountain range near Ladysmith, with no survivors aboard.