Government will dish out billions of rands in bailouts to help keep ailing state-owned enterprises afloat.

Finance minister Tito Mboweni told parliament during a Special Appropriations Bill debate yesterday the recapitalisation would benefit cash-strapped Denel, South African Airways, SABC and Eskom.

"Once this bill has been passed... we will then be in a position to use the contingency reserve account to provide support to the SABC, Denel and South African Airways.

". SABC requests R3.2-billion. We'll not just make that available... It would be a mistake. But we would release [the funds] in chunks as certain conditions precedent are met to make sure that there is progress in improving the organisation," said Mboweni.

But trade union Solidarity criticised Mboweni for not revealing much details about Denel.

Workers are facing a bleak future at the state-owned arms manufacturer after it announced this week that it might not be able to pay its workers on time this month.

Solidarity's Helgard Cronje said they would consider taking legal action should Denel fail to pay the salaries on time.