Sentech chairman Quraysh Patel has called the senior management of the state-owned company “dysfunctional”, saying key information is generally unreliable and often incomplete, or absent without reason.
Patel stated this in the national signal distributor's annual report for the 2009/10 financial year that was tabled before Parliament recently.
“High costs, marginal growth and no vision characterised Sentech's environment. Accusations of corruption, non-compliance with procedures and processes, and low staff morale make for an unwelcome entry into Sentech by the new board,” Patel wrote in his chairman's statement.
Communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda appointed Patel and four other non-executive directors to take the place of former chairman Colin Hickling and eight other non-executive members who resigned in February.
At the same time, COO Beverly Ngwenya replaced former CEO Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane, but subsequently resigned in the face of disciplinary action. Sentech is still searching for a new CEO, and its CFO, Mohammed Cassim, is currently on suspension pending a disciplinary process.
The annual report reads like a litany of woes with irregularities being highlighted throughout. This includes the non-completion of the second teleport in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the inability to deploy a national broadband network to bring Internet connectivity to schools, the slow rollout of digital TV towers, and the failure of a turnaround strategy.
It has also had to close down and write off its two forays into business networks, MyWireless and Biznet, to the tune of R100 million.
Government considers Sentech to be a strategic holding, as it operates the national broadcasting network that transmits the majority of commercial and public TV broadcasts.
Nyanda appointed a task team earlier this year to help formulate a turnaround strategy, but its report has not been made public. He did state before Parliament, two months ago, that he was personally going to intervene in Sentech.
However, even the new board has been unable to display its own competence. In August, it was unceremoniously booted out of Parliament as it had failed to lodge its presentation and papers in time for the communications committee to consider them.
The annual report shows its former board members and senior management still received healthy remuneration packages.
Mokone-Matabane had her annual package doubled, to R4.5 million, despite Sentech's poor performance. Hickling was paid R422 000 in director fees; Cassim's salary rose to R1.7 million, from R1.576 million; and Ngwenya was paid R1.673 million, compared with R1.332 million the year before.
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