DA to PAIA full details of SAPO CEO’s suspension

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will submit an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to request the full details behind the suspension of the South African Post Office (SAPO) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lindiwe Kwele, after a mere four months in office. Kwele’s suspension is accompanied by that of the SAPO Head of Supply Chain Management, Mothusi Motjale.

The SAPO has provided no further details on why these individuals have been temporarily removed from their offices, with their statement only referring to an independent investigation into “unspecified matters”.

The reasons for these suspensions are in the greater public interest and full transparency is required; “unspecified reasons” is no explanation at all. The public, which has continually funded the cash-crunched SAPO since 2014 with multi-billion Rand bailouts over the past six years – none of which have delivered the promised turnaround to profit – has a right to know the true state of this organisation.

Given the SAPO’s critical role in distributing social grants to needy recipients, this is not the time for cloak and dagger activities; full transparency is required. With billions of their hard-earned taxes propping up this cash-hungry state-owned entity (SOE), South Africans deserve to know why the SAPO CEO was suspended, what the nature of the irregularities are, and if there are links between Kwele and Motjale’s suspensions and any allegations leveled against them.