Board members accused of running Sapo into the ground

Johannesburg - A member of the Democratic Alliance (DA) has laid charges against directors who served on the South African Post Office (Sapo) board last year.

Twelve board members stand accused of running the entity into the ground by drawing salaries but failing to institute business rescue proceedings.

The DA’s deputy shadow minister of telecommunications and postal services, Cameron Mackenzie, said on Monday that despite auditors warning that Sapo would have a projected loss of R1.3bn for the year to end-March 2014, the directors failed to act.

The directors stood down in November 2014 following a strike that crippled postal services. Sapo was also put into administration in November 2014.

"They should have done certain things as directors of the company,” Mackenzie told Fin24.

“They failed to do that the previous financial year. They then carried on for a further eight months doing nothing.

"In terms of the Companies Act, they're liable. In fact, they're liable for all the damages suffered by the post office,” Mackenzie added.

Mackenzie said he would lay charges against the directors at a police station in Cape Town on Monday.

‘Raking in millions’

Mackenzie further alleged that Sapo directors took “home millions of rands in directors' fees” during the turmoil at the state-owned company last year.

He said in a statement that during 2013 and 2014, former board chairperson Dr Hlamalani Manzini earned “almost R600 000”, ex-Sapo CEO Christopher Hlekane allegedly took home R3.1m while chief financial officer Khumo Mzozoyana earned R2.3m.

The remainder of the board is said to have made R3.6m among them during the same period, according to Mackenzie.

Mackenzie further said the entity has failed to table its annual report for 2014/2015 before Parliament, in a similar occurrence to what happened last year.

Sapo's Khulani Qoma said the SA Post Office was not available for comment.