JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s struggling state defence firm Denel told trade unions on Friday that it cannot honour a court ruling that it should pay outstanding salaries by Friday, a letter from Denel’s lawyers to the unions’ lawyers seen by Reuters showed.

“Our client requests that your clients grant it an indulgence to enable it to work on measures to raise funds,” Denel’s lawyers wrote in the letter, adding that Denel would aim to give an update no later the end of next week. Denel said in a statement that it remained committed to meeting its obligations and paying outstanding salaries as soon as possible.