By Mbongeni Mbingo [Managing Editor] | 2025-04-01

LAST week’s selection of a seven-member committee to investigate the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) has not only thrown the restructuring exercise into disarray, but it has left the parastatal in dire straits.

Apart from not being officially informed of the resolution by the House of Assembly, EPTC Managing Director Themba Khumalo yesterday revealed that they had been left in a dilemma, as a result of the intervention by parliament.
However, his view is that it was inevitable that EPTC had to find ways to survive, following massive revenue decline due to the loss of their one network and what he terms the copper theft pandemic.

He viewed this against the decision to set up a select committee to probe the implementation of their restructuring exercise as not only frustrating, but critically seeking to be self-serving more than providing the corporation with a lifeline.

“The restructuring is necessary for this company, otherwise the Corporation will collapse,” said Khumalo yesterday. Members of Parliament (MPs) voted in favour of Mbabane East MP Welcome Dlamini’s motion to stop ‘massive job cuts’ at EPTC that he said would impact employees who would lose their gratuity in the process.

The select committee that is tasked with investigating the restructuring exercise is headed by Ngudzeni MP Charles Ndlovu, himself a former employee of the corporation, and has been tasked to further probe the impact on the corporation’s permanent, contract and temporary employees.

“The committee should also verify allegations of deviation from approved procurement processes,” pleaded MP Dlamini, further urging that the committee reports in two weeks its findings.

However, the EPTC MD confirmed that as of yesterday, he had not been given direction by the parent ministry following the setting up of the select committee and its effect to the exercise, especially given the decision to implement the exercise was endorsed by Cabinet last year.

Therefore, all plans, he stated, had been at advanced stage. Khumalo pleaded that the exercise was necessary for the livelihood of the Corporation, revealing that they had taken all precautions when implementing the strategy, with senior executive management the first to be released.

“We have to lead by example, and to demonstrate that we are on a new trajectory, we first had to restructure the executive management and downsized from seven to three,” he revealed.
This, he said, was because the corporation was now spending about 70 per cent of its revenue on salaries, which leaves them unable to pay their creditors.
“It is imperative that we have to restructure otherwise the Corporation will collapse,” he further warned.
He emphasised that the Corporation was starting to improve its revenue, however, they had to be realistic to the challenges on the ground, with the loss of the one network and copper theft being the major impediments in their business model.

“There is truth that you can’t push for efficiencies to the point that you retrench, but at the same time the company must pay for its costs,” he stated, adding that they had lost over 40 000 customers, due to ‘the copper theft pandemic and the closure of the one network. For that reason, he explained that it was a no-brainer that they had to rebuild the core infrastructure of the business, by looking for revenue stimulation and bringing efficiencies.

“It’s like starting a new company from scratch, using our internal resources. If we do nothing, the Corporation could collapse.”

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