Ndabeni-Abrahams latest: Post Office responds to claims of ‘R2.1bn fraud’

The South African Post Office Board says it has noted with concern the article published in a national newspaper this week, titled ‘Ndabeni-Abrahams accused of sneaking in a businessman in R2.1bn tender’.  The damning claims have been outright rejected by the organisation, however:

Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams accused of ‘sneaking in’ preferred executives in tender bidding process

The Star’s exposé claims Ndabeni-Abrahams introduced chairperson of private equity firm Convergence Partners, Andile Ngcaba, to the entity’s executives in an alleged bid to partner on a highly lucrative R2.1billion e-commerce platform. SAPO is investigating the source of the information that was fed to the media, after releasing an official statement:

“SAPO can categorically state that at no stage during the talks did the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies interfere in the procurement processes of the SA Post Office in any way,” the SA Post Office Board said in a statement.

“It should also be noted that at no time did the author of the article approach the SA Post Office for confirmation of the unfounded allegations made in the article.”

Statement from SAPO on allegations levelled against Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams this week

Post Office scandal: Stella battling against accusations

Ndabeni-Abrahams has previously been accused of putting pressure on SAPO and the Postbank to award a Covid-19 relief grant contract to her husband. Mr Abrahams is alleged to have played a vital behind-the-scenes role between Blue Label Telecoms, the SA Postbank, and a former SA Post Office executive to benefit financially from the distribution of the R350 Covid-19 relief grant.

SAPO’s board was against the Post Office’s involvement in the distribution of the grants, saying that the partnership with SASSA exposed it to massive financial losses. According to the DA, Ndabeni-Abrahams subsequently instructed the Chairperson of the SAPO board Tshikani Colleen Makhubele, to step down.