The SA Post Office was haemorrhaging senior executives, with its human resources department being the worst affected, a source within the organisation told Business Report this week. <\/p>\n
The Post Office has recently lost its group executive for human resources, and the general managers for internal audit, risk management, information technology and supply chain management.<\/p>\n
Excluding deaths and retirements, the human resources department has had 32 resignations in the past year, including executives and senior managers, said the source.<\/p>\n
The last resignation was that of Humaira Choonara, the group executive for human resources, who left last week. Another two senior managers are expected to leave in April.<\/p>\n
The Post Office has been dogged by controversy, the most prominent being the tussle between its ousted chief executive, Khutso Mampeule, and communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburri, the caretaker minister for the service.<\/p>\n
In October 2006 Mampeule told MPs that 15 of his top 31 executives had left since he took over in 2004, seven of them after disciplinary hearings.<\/p>\n
Motshoanetsi Lefoka, who replaced Mampeule, downplayed the skills loss, denying the spate of resignations was as a result of distrust and an insecure working environment.<\/p>\n
She said only five out of 42 senior executives had resigned. Two of these had decided to relocate to Australia.<\/p>\n
"If you compare this with job mobility in South Africa in general, this is within the trend and is not alarming," she said.<\/p>\n