Postbank: Parly communications committee calls for urgent board appointment

JOHANNESBURG - The communications and digital technologies portfolio committee in Parliament has called for the speedy appointment of a permanent board at Postbank.

This follows a drawn-out recruitment process after most of the board resigned in protest in September 2023 in a clash with then communications minister Mondli Gungubele.

Gungubele fired the remaining board member the following day when a KPMG report on fraud, cash theft and maladministration recommended holding the directors accountable for poor oversight at the company.

Gungubele and the board blamed each other for the collapse of their relationship.

A year and a half after Postbank was left rudderless – the state institution remains under administration.

A public notice calling for nominations of a new board was issued shortly after its dissolution.

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Chairperson of the Communications and Digital Technologies committee in Parliament – Khusela Diko.

“The portfolio committee on Communication is quite concerned with the situation at the Postbank. You have an administrator who has been in that position in excess of 12 months and seemingly there are delays in the appointment of a permanent board for the Postbank.”

Diko says the appointments are critical as the bank tries to restore its image.

“The minister has assured us that the recruitment process is underway and once vetting is complete, those positions will be filled and we are trusting that will go a long way in stabilising the Postbank.”

The Postbank has been separated from the bleeding post office but still needs to secure a banking licence from the reserve bank to offer credit and other banking products as it eyes the status of being a state bank.