The Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services has welcomed the openness and honesty from the South African Post Office (SAPO) Team led by the Administrator Dr Simo Lushaba. They presented SAPO’s 2013/14 annual report and turnaround strategy.
According to its annual report, SAPO has received adverse audit opinion from the Auditor-General of South Africa with a number of material findings including failure to provide sufficient and appropriate evidence for audit, irregular expenditure and failure to achieve targets. Dr Lushaba presented a progress report on stabilising the Post Office. He indicated that SAPO was currently engaging with customers and organised labour to rebuild relationships following last year’s extended workers’ strike. Committee members across the political spectrum expressed their appreciation and confidence in the current leadership to steer the organisation in the right direction.
Committee Chairperson, Ms Mmamoloko Kubayi, reiterated the need to regularise the number of Board meetings, indicating that many meetings could cause instability within the organisation. “Board members are not involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation, but they are there to provide oversight role,” said Ms Kubayi. While SAPO has been affected by a global steady decline in mail volumes which generates over 60% of the revenue, the Committee is impressed with financial stability of the Post Bank which has shown growth. The Committee called for a swift conclusion on the matter against Group Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer as this has financial implications for the organisation.
On the other hand, SAPO informed the Committee that Communications Workers’ Union (CWU) was still not recognising the signed agreement of 6.5% wage increase which was signed with other two unions. Dr Lushaba reiterated that more efforts were being made to engage CWU to avert a possible strike and build strong relationship with the organised labour in the interest of the Post Office. During the meeting, the Committee learned that there was a fourth labour union representing workers at the South African Post Office.
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Justice Molafo
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E-mail: jmolafo@parliament.gov.za
