The crisis within the South African Post Office deepened this week when three members of the board resigned in protest against the suspension of the parastatal’s chief executive, Khutso Mampeule.
The board members — Marthinus Crous, Jackie Lange and Phumeza Dzingwe — confirmed their resignations to the Mail & Guardian but refused to comment further. Sources in the Post Office said the reason for the three members’ resignations was that they were unhappy with the decision to suspend Mampeule.
Mampeule, who has been at the forefront of an anti-corruption drive within the organisation, was suspended with full pay at the meeting of the Post Office’s board last Friday, pending the outcome of a disciplinary case against him. Mampeule has come under severe political pressure since he laid criminal charges against his predecessor, Maanda Manyatshe, and two other executives in connection with the awarding of a multimillion-rand contract to Vision Design House (VDH).
Mampeuale has alleged in an affidavit submitted to the police that proper tender procedures were not followed when the contract was awarded to VDH. He cancelled the deal as soon as he took over as the parastatal’s new CEO last year.
VDH was paid R100-million to refurbish the retail space at 68 Post Office and Post Bank branches around the country between 2003 and the contract termination last year. This amounts to about R1,4-million per branch. Had the refurbishment been rolled out to 1 500 branches as planned, the cost to the Post Office would have been more than R2-billion. Mampeule alleged that the appointment and payment of Vision Design was irregular and that the company had fraudulently inflated its bills to the Post Office.
In addition to a 12,5% commission that Vision Design charged as project manager, the company, according to Mampeule, also secretly made a profit of least R8-million from the deal.
The M&G first reported the allegations in September. Last week, Manyatshe resigned as MD of MTN South Africa in a move to distance the cellphone giant from the allegations against him.
Mampeule’s suspension last Friday took many by surprise. Explaining the board’s decision, its chairperson Phuti Tshukudu last week said the board had lost confidence in Mampeule. Without providing any substantive explanation, Tshukudu said that Mampeule had undermined the board’s authority and his impartiality has been called into question when it came to a forensic audit into improper tender practices.
Mampeule this week hit back, saying his suspension was an attempt to divert attention from his ”concerted effort” to root out corruption. He said he was suspended because his investigation has affected powerful and well-connected people on the board.
Sources close to the board said the decision to suspend Mampeule was taken by seven out of 14 board members during a strategic workshop.
”Mampeule’s issue was not even on the agenda. Some board members hijacked last week’s meeting to discuss him [Mampeule]. This is highly unconstitutional. Any decision pertaining to the suspension of the CEO needed to be discussed through a properly organised board meeting. But this was not the case with Mampeule’s suspension,” said a source sympathetic to Mampeule.
Cosatu’s affiliated communications union has come out in support of Mampeule, describing the decision to suspend him as a deliberate attempt to divert focus or tamper with the investigation initiated by him.
Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said she has instituted an investigation into both the board and management’s decision. However, she did not elaborate on the nature of the investigation.
Lange and Dzingwe this week said they explained the reasons for their resignation in a letter submitted to both Matsepe-Casaburri and the Post Office. Crous said he could only confirm that he has tendered his resignation. Post Office spokesperson Twiggs Xiphu referred all questions to Matsepe-Casaburri.