The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda to fire Sentech's board, saying poor management had led to its failure to deliver.
While the union welcomed last week's release of the task team report on the condition of state-owned entities Sentech and the SABC, it also called on Nyanda to take a tough approach to improving management of the signal distributor.
The union says it will push the minister to remove the entire Sentech board as it has failed to develop and implement a coherent vision and strategy at the company.
“We can't have people who do not know how to do their job in our state-owned enterprises,” says Matankana Mothapo, national spokesman for the CWU.
The task team, which was commissioned in June 2009, revealed the signal distributor was in a weak and financially thorny position and called for immediate action.
While the minister has shied away from taking any decisions on the future of the Sentech board, its CEO and other members of management, the report alludes to the role poor management played in the Sentech crisis.
While Nyanda has been sympathetic to Sentech's troubles, admitting it battled to receive the money it needed to function properly, Mothapo says management should also be blamed for poor performance over the years.
The CWU says the state-owned entity's poor track record, which has seen it run at a deficit for more than five years, could be improved with an overhaul of its management.
Sentech has been in financial dire straits for several years, battling to source funding for some of its major projects, which include SA's digital migration and the company's role as a backup service to Telkom for the Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup.
“We can't keep on dishing out bonuses to people who don't produce what is needed or what they are employed to execute under a mandate given to them when they were hired, while our workers are still exploited by the top management of this institution. We need change in Sentech before it becomes disarrayed,” says Mothapo.
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