Post Office spins its way out of negative coverage
RATHER than fix its problematic processes and stop the bleeding, the South African Post Office has appointed a spin doctor to save face.
The struggling institution is running on an overdraft of R300-million, but is still prepared to fork out R5-million to R8-million for the services of an “experienced corporate reputation” company for the next six to ten months.
This is because the Post Office board feels unjustly crucified by the media, and has instructed CEO Chris Hlekane to appoint a reputation management company.
Business Times recently ran an article on a certain “procurement task team” consisting almost entirely of Post Office board members, who also hold the power to interfere with tender processes.
The report on this special procurement task team has now raised the eyebrows of the National Treasury’s new chief procurement officer, Kenneth Brown, who has started asking questions about the Post Office’s tender procedures.
The Post Office tender documents obtained by Business Times showed that an initial bidder was chosen and approved for a R100-million contract because the company was R30-million cheaper and had better black empowerment ratings than the second bidder.
However, the Post Office’s procurement task team did not agree with this decision. Instead, it set up a new tender committee, which then picked a different company.
The decision to appoint a
Report has now raised the eyebrows of Treasury
reputation management company appears to fly in the face of the tender rules after the Post Office decided to fasttrack the appointment, deviating from accepted tender processes.
The Post Office board invited Meropa Communications director Peter Mann to address it, and has two other communications specialists on its shortlist.
It has also confirmed it has retained the services of Resurgent Risk “to mitigate against the company’s widespread risk exposure”.
Resurgence Risk is led by Arthur Fraser, the former head of National Intelligence Agency, who is said to be at the centre of the Zuma spy tapes.
According to the Sunday World newspaper, Hlekane apparently hired Fraser to spy on senior executives who apparently pose a threat to his position. His “hit list” includes IT head Maritjie Lancaster, Post Office Courier Freight acing MD Molefe Mathibe, mail business executive Janras Kotsi, security head Patrik Ngomane and communications head Lungile Lose.
Post Office spokesman Khulani Qoma said it was standard business practice for companies to set about promoting their brand to gain customer confidence.