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Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams spent more time addressing allegations of her interference in the affairs of the post office than on key political issues in her department. (Photo: Flickr / GCIS)
At a press conference, the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, spent more time addressing allegations of her interference in post office affairs than on key policy issues in her department. Among the policy questions is the question of the new spectrum.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, faces battles on many fronts, especially in the state entities she oversees.
The battles mainly take place at the South African post office, where Ndabeni-Abrahams has been on a collision course with some board members over allegations of interference in the entity’s day-to-day running.
In the media, Ndabeni-Abrahams has also faced accusations of interfering in the Post Office’s lucrative bidding process. According to MESS, allegedly presented the businessman and Chairman of private equity firm Convergence Partners Andile Ngcaba to post office executives and board members in July to partner on a highly lucrative R2.1 billion e-commerce platform.
If true, it would be considered a violation of procurement rules, because tenders must be competitive and attract multiple stakeholders. And as the The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Ndabeni-Abrahams, can oversee the governance processes of the post office and not its day-to-day administration.
At a press conference on Tuesday, October 6, Ndabeni-Abrahams spent more time addressing allegations of her interference in post office affairs than on key political issues in her department.
“I want to state categorically that all allegations are unfounded, unfounded and devoid of truth. The commitments that I had with the Board of the Post Office were and continue to be within the parameters of the law, which forces me to involve the Board of Directors of the Post Office in management matters from time to time.
“In these engagements with the board, we have only discussed matters within my legal purview, including governance issues and other strategies of which the board requires my opinion and direction,” said Ndabeni-Abrahams.
She added: “I wouldn’t be surprised [by the allegations] because I am Ndabeni-Abrahams at the end of the day. They have always challenged and attacked me. Those attacks are nothing new, I am used to them as a politician. I am not upset. At the end of the day, I’m not here to please anyone. “
One person who apparently doesn’t like Ndabeni-Abrahams is the former president of the Post Office Board, Colleen Makhubele, who has brought Ndabeni-Abrahams to court because she was demoted to an ordinary board member. On Tuesday, Ndabeni-Abrahams said it planned to challenge the court action.
Makhubele has been charged in the Abrahams case with abusing her powers and acting unconstitutionally. by demoting her from a position she had held since October 2019. The demotion, she said, was due to “undue considerations.”
According to Working day, Makhubele was demoted in August 2020 after colliding with I was in the abrahams on the Post Board’s decision to institute disciplinary action against acting chief executive Ivumile Nongogo, who later resigned. Nongogo’s disciplinary action was related to the conclusion of an agreement with the SA Social Security Agency to distribute the Covid-19 R350 temporary aid grant, without consulting the board.
This has come out of the post office, which suffered a loss of more than R1 billion in its financial year 2019, without a permanent CEO since August 2019, when Mark Barnes abruptly resigned. Since then, the Post Office has had three acting CEOs: Lindiwe Kwele (suspended after being accused of misconduct), Nongogo and Reneilwe Langa (the current acting executive director, seconded by the department of communications and digital technologies).
Ndabeni-Abrahams said the process to appoint a permanent CEO was being finalized by the Post Office board. Ndabeni-Abrahams has yet to approve the board’s election of a permanent CEO.
More spectrum
Ndabeni-Abrahams’ feud with post office executives overshadows the key political decisions for which his department is responsible. For example, he is overseeing South Africa’s move to release new spectrum, which President Cyril Ramaphosa has targeted as a reform measure to grow the economy.
Spectrum refers to the radio frequencies on which data is transmitted. More spectrum means better quality service with fewer dropped calls and faster download speeds. The last large spectrum set in South Africa was allocated in 2004 and 2005.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), a regulator overseen by the Ndabeni-Abrahams department, has invited mobile operators such as MTN, Vodacom, Telkom and Cell C to bid for spectrum for next-generation 4G and 5G networks of 2 October. Spectrum auctions are expected to take place in late March 2021. Icasa has published the available spectrum categories and auction prices (see below). DM / BM
