Chairperson, Cope supports all measures designed to extend access to postal services for South Africans, especially for people residing in rural and underdeveloped areas. We also support the new legal framework for postal services, which will hopefully facilitate greater efficiency and accountability and improve financial management.
However, we are very concerned about recent reports of alleged financial mismanagement in the Post Office. We are also concerned that the dust had hardly settled on the questionable Post Office lease contract when news of a flawed R110 million WebRiposte retail system project hit the headlines. We believe the Public Finance Management Act should be utilised to discourage reckless financial management. But it seems that there is an apparent reluctance to implement sanctions of personal liability, as provided for in the Public Finance Management Act.
As far as we are aware, there has been no punitive consequence for public officials who flout the Public Finance Management Act. We believe that it is not good that the state inevitably picks up the tab and individuals guilty of even the most glaring mismanagement and corruption are only given a small rap over the knuckles. The time has come for politicians in executive positions, board members and executive incumbents of parastatals to be held personally liable for the costly bungling and mismanagement that takes place.
The Post Office Bill before the House today contains very important clauses that, if applied and enforced, would contribute to improved corporate governance of the Post Office and its subsidiaries. It includes criteria for disqualification as well as details of fiduciary duties of board members and very necessary measures to avoid a conflict of interest by board members and their families.
However, Cope has to register serious concerns about amendments introduced by the ANC to remove the financial controls which were supposed to have been exercised by the Minister of Finance. This, we believe, is not in the interests of good governance and cannot be supported. The Bill as originally introduced, as was said by hon Michael, required the concurrence of the Minister of Finance on critical matters that could clearly have significant financial and budgetary implications. These matters include the alienation of shares, the alteration of the main business of the Post Office, any possible merger or joint venture, as well as borrowing of money. In terms of the amendment to the Bill, it now allows for consultation by the Minister of Communications with the Minister of Finance. We believe this is a very serious step taking the Post Office in the wrong direction. It could cripple the primary mandate of the entity, namely to deliver postal services to all, or worse: It could in time result in yet another state bail-out.
With the amendments, we will have to rely only on historic overviews by the Auditor-General to review the financial shortcomings of the entity, or on the provisions of section 216 of the Constitution, whereby the Minister of Finance can withhold public funding from this entity. Another ANC amendment abdicates the oversight role of Parliament by giving the Minister of Communications exclusive rights to appoint members of the Post Office board. There is no role whatsoever for Parliament, the assembly of the people, according to the Constitution of South Africa.
Notwithstanding these very serious shortcomings of the Bill - and we believe that it is also necessary to test the constitutionality of the Bill - we do believe, as Cope, that we will support the broad tenets of the Bill. We will certainly keep a watching brief to ensure accountability, responsiveness and transparency and, above all, to expose financial mismanagement and corruption at the Post Office and all other entities, now and in the future. [Applause.]