Communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda is expected to call a press conference later this week — probably on Thursday — to outline the fate of Sentech and the state-owned company’s management team.

A report commissioned by Nyanda reportedly recommends that Sentech CEO Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane and the entire board of the broadcasting signal distributor be fired. Nyanda appointed a task team in 2009 to investigate turnaround strategies at both Sentech and the SABC.

Business Report reported on Monday that the task team had found that “the chief executive failed to create the correct environment to monitor performance and compliance. The report found a ‘lack of adequate leadership and oversight’ at the parastatal.”

The newspaper also reported that Sentech was budgeting for a net loss of R123m for the 2009/10 financial year as a result of discontinued operations such as MyWireless.

However, it said Sentech’s loss could increase to R214m if losses of R91m by broadband services MyWireless, BizNet and Vsat were included. “This amount was not disclosed to the department of communications by Sentech in its corporate plan.”

Even without a management shake-up ordered by Nyanda, changes were on the cards at Sentech. Mokone-Matabane, whose contract expires in September, indicated previously that she planned to retire.

Last year, new communications department director-general Mamodupi Mohlala vowed in an interview with TechCentral to get tough on poor performance by state-owned enterprises that fall in her department’s portfolio. She singled out Sentech and the SABC as problems.

She said at the time that the department would play a “closer supervisory role” over these organisations to help them deal with problems that arose before they turned into full-blown crises.

“I believe that we need to have a closer supervisory role to ensure that these entities not only deliver on their mandate but that they do so efficiently and optimally,” she said, adding: “Maybe [these companies] were left to their own devices for too long.” — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral, with Sapa