Sentech head resigns after charges

The acting chief executive of state-owned communications company Sentech, Beverly Ngwenya, resigned this week after disciplinary charges - ranging from gross negligence to reckless spending - against her and the parastatal's chief financial officer, Mohammed Cassim.

>>This story has since had a correction to it

Sources said the board's actions were approved by minister of communications Siphiwe Nyanda "who needs Sentech to be as financially viable as possible".

"The minister has issued strict instructions that Sentech, as one of government's most important assets, must operate optimally," the source said.

Another source said the board's "swift action" on the matter was "a message to those who don't want to earn their money to make way. This was long overdue, and I'm sure we are likely to see more heads roll for the mess that Sentech is in".

Board members have hailed Ngwenya's resignation as "the honourable thing to do", while Cassim has vowed to defend himself in a hearing that will start tomorrow.

"Charges were about to be brought against her and she requested that her employment be terminated and the board immediately accepted her resignation. She did the honourable thing because she knew there was no way she would win this with the evidence that was going to be brought against her," said a source. In charge documents, board chairman Quraysh Patel accused Cassim of misleading the board when he allegedly informed its members that the board "was not required to consider the financial statements before they were submitted to treasury".

The board also said its relationship with Cassim had broken down as a result of him refusing to co-operate with the new board members and to "harmoniously work with it" since their appointment at the beginning of April.

"As a result, there is no trust relationship between you and the board. Consequently, you are not able to fulfil your contractual obligations to the company," Patel said.

The board further accused Cassim of:

• Submitting materially incorrect financial statements not reflecting that Sentech was paying R59.8-million for discontinued operations;

• Failing to ensure Sentech timeously paid VAT totalling R151.5-million on grants received. As a result, the parastatal was required to pay interest of R18.7-million to the South African Revenue Services;

• Making Sentech liable to pay R8.9-million to Independent Communications Authority of SA in interest after he failed to pay, on time, the multimedia licence and the carrier of carriers licence from 2007 until 2009; and

• Exceeding his delegated authority for submitting a purchase order to UEC Technologies in June last year, despite the contract with the said company not being concluded.

Patel confirmed Ngwenya's resignation and that charges were brought against Cassim.