Not a single person has been held accountable at the South African Post Office (SAPO) for failing to ensure that the R10 billion in bailout funds was spent to turn the ailing entity around.
Yet, SAPO is poised for yet another bailout after it was provisionally liquidated earlier this year when it failed to pay some creditors.
Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Mondli Gungubele has blamed the failure to act against those responsible for the bailout on the continued cash-flow troubles that beset the entity.
“The past funding allocations, which were intended to invest in the turnaround strategy, ended up being depleted by operations and debts as the severity of the financial challenges intensified.
“No one was brought to book for the non-investment of monies to implement a turnaround as the usage was linked to the cash-flow situation,” he said.
Gungubele said the funds were utilised for operating activities, repayment of loans and creditors.
“The situation was exacerbated by the entity’s outdated operating model with high cost structures,” he added.
Gungubele was responding to parliamentary questions from IFP MP Zandile Majozi, who asked about steps the government took in bringing to book those responsible for using the monies intended for implementing SAPO turnaround strategy for consumption instead of investing it in infrastructure and modernisation.
Majozi said it was concerning that no one was held accountable to implement the plans yet bailouts were dished out.
She also found it odd that although there have been boards and CEOs at the SOE, there was no proper accountability being done.
“We hope that the minister will make sure that anyone found responsible will be held accountable,” Majozi said.
SAPO has to date received R10bn in bailouts, including R7.9bn paid over the period 2014 to 2019 to repay its debt, to fund its turnaround plans and invest in capital expenditure.
Earlier this year, National Treasury approved R2.4bn for recapitalisation to assist SAPO with its Post Office of Tomorrow strategy subject to the entity meeting certain conditions.
Finance Minister Godongwana has since hinted at another bailout when the budget adjustment is done later this year. Gungubele noted that the government has over the years embarked on several interventions to get SAPO back on track and continued battling to generate enough revenue to fully meet its monthly financial obligations.
“We do acknowledge that better management decisions should have been taken at the entity, with efficient Board oversight, to expedite the investments in capital expenditure, address SAPO’s cost structure and operating model.”
He said SAPO has developed the Post Office of Tomorrow strategy, which made a provision to review the entity’s operating model to restructure in a way it could operate as a sustainable, productive and efficient entity.
Earlier this year, Sapo handed a notice letter to the Communications Worker Union (CWU) indicating its intention to proceed with the large-scale retrenchments affecting about 6 000 employees, citing a decline in financial position.
CWU general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala on Tuesday put the blame at the door of the government for failing to heed their call for forensic investigations and ensuring that Public Protector remedial action was implemented.
“I don’t know how many times we have marched to the Luthuli House, the government and Parliament and it just fell on deaf ears,” Tshabalala said.
He also said SAPO has been embroiled in instability with a number of executives not being appointed on a full-time basis. “It is clear that there has been no stability and you are bound to have this crisis because there is no accountability.”
Tshabalala noted that every time CEOs took over, they never implemented the turn-around plans and there was no consequence management.
“You may have the goodwill and turnaround plans but if they are not implemented, they are as good as dead.This amounts to maladministration, corporate governance crisis and the state should take full responsibility,” Tshabalala said.
He also noted with concern that there have been boards of directors, but nothing was done to hold them accountable for failure to implement the plans.
Compounding matters was that there were new ministers in almost every year or two.
“Workers must never be sacrificed for the failures of the government and think that the way out of the failures is retrenchments,” Tshabalala added.
Meanwhile, Gungubele said a forensic investigation was instituted and the theft reported to SAPS when R150 million was stolen at Postbank from the South African Social Security Agency’s grant payment system last December.
“It was established that the R150 million was a preliminary cumulative figure of the monies stolen from the Postbank over some period of time.
The forensic investigations are still in progress,” Gungubele said. He said Postbank was required to implement the recommendations from the investigations and his department was providing an oversight role.
Cape Times