Sentech on a shoestring

It's less than a week to payday and already I am monitoring the petrol gauge, surveying a nearly bare larder and wracking my brain for low-cost child entertainment options for the weekend.

It's at times like these - the last week of almost every month - that I am reminded of my mother's maxim: "Think of someone less fortunate than you and then count your blessings."

Normally, a person who is obviously far less privileged than I catches my eye. However, today's target of sympathy is an organisation and a state-owned one at that. Specifically, today's compassion goes to Sentech.

Despite our communications minister and even our president stressing Sentech's importance to SA, I cannot remember the last time I heard news that it had received the funding it had been promised.

The poor communications cousin to part-government-owned Telkom, Sentech's point of pride for the financial year ended 31 March was that it was able to reduce its losses to R21.5 million.

Given that government keeps adding to its vision of the role that Sentech should play - and then holds back the funds required to realise that vision - this 72% reduction in losses is quite an achievement.

As chairman Colin Hickling points out, the organisation is in desperate need of a capital injection; however, its status as a state-owned entity means this capital can only come from government.

Like the greyhounds in the old sport of dog racing, Sentech mostly finds itself chasing a lure that is impossible to catch.

Kimberly Guest, senior journalist, ITWeb

Curiously, government appears to want to give Sentech money. Over the past five years, much fanfare has been created around announcements that the operator would receive millions - even billions - of rands.

However, when the time comes to hand over the promised cheque, there often appears to be no money to be had. Like the greyhounds in the old sport of dog racing, Sentech mostly finds itself chasing a lure that is impossible to catch.

Those who are slightly crueller may even say Sentech is the donkey that is too stupid to realise the carrot dangling just out of reach, will never be in its reach.

I cannot begin to imagine the level of frustration that must be evident at every level of Sentech. Perhaps this is why the company has in recent years started throwing up its hands and criticising its benefactor.

It was a risky step to take, as few people find themselves continuing to be employed by government after being one of its public critics. Unfortunately, stepping up onto the soapbox appears to have achieved little.

In the meantime, I hear that some of its most loyal staff members have begun to lose faith in the cause, leaving Sentech to attempt to stem the losses in its workforce.

I don't believe we can blame these people for bidding a sad farewell, as the promise of working at the edge of technology becomes a little more distant every year.

As I sit here counting out my coppers, I know I have only myself to blame. At the end of each month, the money my employer promised me is deposited into my account. I have a budget; I just failed to stick to it.

Sentech, on the other hand, can never budget with much confidence, as its promised salary regularly fails to appear in its account. In the meantime, its list of strategic objectives is growing, demanding that increasing amounts be spent on new infrastructure.

At this rate, government is preparing the Sentech board and management for a life of begging on street corners.

Should I ever see a sign that says "used to work at Sentech, roadside begging is more dignified", I will be more than happy to deposit my last lot of coins in the outstretched hands. After all, I am blessed with the knowledge of knowing where my next penny will come from.