Chairperson, it is a privilege to speak in support of the South African Postbank Bill. Once passed, the Bill will corporatise the Postbank into a fully fledged public bank. It is envisaged that the Postbank will become the bank of first choice for lower-income groups in society.
The local post office in one's town or locality currently provides standard postal services, allows for a personal savings facility and sells stationery and newspapers. It also serves as a monthly pension or grant pay- point for the elderly and the disabled respectively. Once the new Postbank is launched and registered, it will not only act as a savings bank, but will lend and borrow money, particularly to the poor, to rural dwellers and to youth and students. In this sense, this Bill is one of the most important pro-poor measures introduced by the ANC government in the current term.
The new bank will bring to reality the vision of the White Paper on Postal Policy. It will serve as a powerful support structure for rural-urban financial linkages, allowing for easier financial access for migrant workers and promoting economic growth in rural areas. It will strengthen the prospect for savings and generate investment capital among rural communities. In the short term, the Postbank can become a critical poverty- combating instrument in poor communities. In the near future, it has the potential to develop into a powerful state bank comparable to similar financial institutions in Germany and Japan.
The Postbank will be an autonomous company, wholly owned by the Post Office. It will be owned indirectly by government. It will be managed by an independent board of directors, composed of 10 persons including the bank manager. The board will be accountable to the Post Office, the Minister of Communications and to Parliament. The public, together with the Post Office, will be invited to nominate suitable persons for board membership. These will be screened by a nominations committee, which will make final recommendations to the Ministers of Communications and Finance. In the end, board membership is dependent on nominees passing the fit and proper test, set by the Registrar of Banks.
Structurally, and in terms of policy formulation, the bank is located midway between the Minister of Communications and the Minister of Finance. For this reason, the committee has ensured that all major policy and operational decisions enjoy the concurrent support of both Ministers. The committee has also insisted that the responsible Ministers develop appropriate investment, lending and borrowing policies for the bank. These policies must be approved by Cabinet and must be tabled before Parliament, so as to ensure that there is no repeat of the debacle that we have seen at the Land Bank. Furthermore, any decision of the Postbank that is inconsistent with the policy framework determined by government will be of no force or effect.
The committee has also introduced stringent criteria for appointment to the board of the Postbank. A person with any material conflict of interest will not be eligible to serve on the board and his or her business enterprise will not be able to enter into any business transactions with the bank. The committee has introduced provisions that criminalise a failure to declare a conflict of interest. The insertion of such onerous provisions is there to ensure that there is no possibility for any abuse by either the board or any member of the board.