Postbank: Gungubele promises to shed light on damning forensic report after board resigns
The Postbank board, including chairperson Thabile Wonci, resigned last week, citing interference by the Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Mondli Gungubele last week.
Gungubele has since accused the board of preempting their dismissal at an annual general meeting that was scheduled to take place the afternoon of the mass resignations.
In the letter detailing the resignations, the directors cited ongoing "severe and hostile treatment" and "hostile and oppressive attitude" from the minister.
But Gungubele said he was not bothered by the accusations, adding that the exodus was prompted by the outcome of a forensic probe by audit firm KPMG, which revealed irregularities in the extension of service contracts to private companies.
Jacaranda FM News has seen court papers detailing the payment wrangle between Postbank and a service provider over a R46 million settlement agreement for the continued use of the company’s payment switch that allowed the bank to make payments via the Integrated Grant Payment System.
However, on two occasions, Gungubele would not go into the details of the forensic report – instead, he committed to a follow-up press briefing that would focus on the KPMG report.
“We will have to organise a special briefing on the KPMG report. We will have to be properly legally advised. From where I am sitting, there’s not much to hide.
“But, I said in the last briefing that you know how litigious South Africa is. I think, under normal circumstances, the public is owed that special briefing so that we close this thing.”
Earlier this month, Gungubele announced the appointment of Khayalethu Ngema as administrator of the Postbank.
Hours after their resignations became public, the department published an advertisement inviting interested candidates to replace them.
While lauding the recently appointed chief executive of the bank Nikki Mbengashe, amid sharp criticism of the disastrous technical ‘glitch’ that saw at least 600,000 beneficiaries without their much-needed social grants, Gungubele said the previous board had failed to uphold their fiduciary duties.
“The board that has left is comprised of two; the three that were there for three years before the others joined in October. The fact that this bank has had a disclaimer for three years disclaimer happened under this board. We will demonstrate this when we do that briefing,” Gungubele said.
At an earlier briefing, Gungubele said it was important to ensure the bank’s well-run to achieve the government’s goal of establishing a state-owned bank.
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