Johannesburg. - The South African Post Office’s annual report was named the winner in the category ‘State owned and non-listed entities’ in the Chartered Secretaries and JSE Annual Awards for Company Reporting in Johannesburg on 12 November 2009. Motshoanetsi Lefoka, the South African Post Office Group CEO, said in comment that the achievement confirms the company’s commitment to good corporate governance and to triple bottom line reporting.

Lefoka said as a state-owned enterprise, the South African Post Office is a custodian of tax payers’ money and complying with corporate governance practices of transparency and excellence is the foundation to the long term sustainability of the organisation. “Partnering with all stakeholders such as labour representatives is critical to ensure that we operate in an open and transparent manner. The Board of Director’s role of oversight and monitoring of performance and corporate governance is key for excellence in company reporting.”

Lefoka says for the 2009/10 fiscal year, the South African Post Office intends to continue investing in an IT platform that is a foundation to the growth of our various business operations and integrating logistics divisions under one umbrella for reduced costs and maximum efficiency. The company’s IT platform has also enabled the implementation of various post-related electronic services initiatives. Postbank will be corporatised to provide a wider range of accessible, relevant and affordable financial services products to unbanked and underserviced citizens.

At the customer interface, universal postal access, customer service, strategic focus of social investments, good governance, and ethical conduct by all members of staff will ensure that the company operates in a secure business environment free from fraud and corruption. Lefoka mentions the ‘E-Cadre’ IT skills development programme as the company’s flagship corporate citizenship programme. The programme targeted 100 unemployed youth with recent ICT qualifications from rural and peri-urban areas. It offered them the chance to apply their skills in practice and also the prospect of full-time employment at the end of their programme. Seventy-nine (79) of the 100 beneficiaries have since become full time employees of the South African Post Office.

She also cites, a second corporate citizenship initiative in the South African Post Office’s provision of geocoded addresses to rural and informal household, which enables the extension of efficient emergency services to rural and informal settlements and enables people to participate in the economy through being able to purchase high value goods, opening bank accounts that allow them to receive payments for commercial transactions and to save for future needs. People can also be connected, through mail, with friends and relatives.

To date the South African Post Office has provided 7.4 million households with new addresses, mostly in rural areas. “The events of the past few years that led to the collapse of companies like Enron indicate just how important good corporate governance is,” says Lefoka. “Good corporate governance is a business imperative that in the end will safeguard the state-owned entity. We appreciate the efforts by the Chartered Secretaries Southern Africa and the JSE in promoting good governance and excellence in company reporting.”