/ 29 August 2007

Review clears two Post Office officials

A draft post-forensic review has cleared the current acting chief executive of the South African Post Office and its financial director of any wrongdoing, the board of the parastatal said on Wednesday. Acting chief executive officer Motshoanetsi Lefoka and chief financial director Nick Buick were implicated in an initial investigation.

A draft post-forensic review has cleared the current acting chief executive of the South African Post Office (Sapo) and its financial director of any wrongdoing, the board of the parastatal said on Wednesday.

Acting chief executive officer Motshoanetsi Lefoka and chief financial director Nick Buick were implicated in an initial investigation, the results of which were released in March this year, and which culminated in the sacking of former Sapo chief executive Khutso Mampeule.

Mampeule was sacked by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri after the investigation, conducted by an independent company, SizweNtsaluba VSP Forensics.

”From the information we have at this stage we are comfortable to have them with us,” board chairperson Vuyo Mahlati told reporters in Johannesburg.

Flanked by Lefoka and Buick, Mahlati said: ”A post-forensic review is being done by a task team looking at issues coming out of the report [of the initial investigation].”

The terms of reference of the first investigation had been limited, she said. The Post office was therefore conducting an internal post-forensic review of its own.

Those implicated in the initial report were called on to make submissions and were subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.

A draft review report was presented to the Cabinet, and a final version would be presented in October.

The forensic review would include a look into criminal charges against another former Sapo chief executive, Maanda Manyatshe.

Mampuele’s dismissal was partly because he failed to inform the Post Office board about a decision to lay criminal charges against Manyatshe for his role in a suspicious contract between the Post Office and a company called Vision Design House.

Manyatshe was Mampeule’s predecessor.

Mahlati confirmed that the Post Office had been served with a summons from Manyatshe’s legal representatives.

He is claiming millions in damages from the parastatal.

”It is important to confirm that indeed we have been served with a summons by Manyatshe … our legal teams are preparing themselves.”

The review will also look at allegations, reported in the Mail & Guardian, that South African Broadcasting Corporation legal services head Mafika Sihlali was accused of ”milking Sapo of millions of rands in fees that were not earned”.

On the communication minister’s dismissal of Mampeule, Mahlati said: ”…we convened a group of senior counsel who were independent to check from a legal perspective and we were very happy.”

She said the matter had been heard by the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration and the case was referred to the Labour Court.

”… it is his [Mampeule’s] prerogative whether he takes it further,” she said.

The newspaper reported that Sihlali’s former legal practice charged over R6-million to restructure the post office, which he did not do but was paid for.

”The [Sihlali] case took place in 2003. We are mostly dealing with a legacy that continues to haunt us,” Mahlati said.

The press briefing put an end to the parastatal’s silence, months after its chief executives had been dismissed. Prior to that, seven Sapo executives resigned or were axed as a result of Mampeule’s anti-corruption drive.

”At this point we understand where the main problems are … we won’t sit here and say we are clean … we have an understanding and a grip of it,” she said.

She admitted that one of the main problems the Post Office faced stemmed from the tender process, mainly regarding procurement and recruitment.

She added that the problem was being tackled and was ”something we are taking very seriously”.

Meanwhile, the Post Office’s financial standing had recovered considerably from five years ago, when it was technically insolvent.

Buick said the parastatal had shown profitability every year since 2003 and that it was currently debt free.

Its earnings for 2007 would be announced on September 4.

The post office has set aside R500-million for improving infrastructure in the current financial year. — Sapa