H

E PUThishandup long

before “thuma mina”

(“send me”) became

President Cyril Rama-

phosa’s rallying cry for

South Africans to get

involved with uplifting

the country.

Mark Barnes had identified the cause

he wanted to help – the cash-strapped

South African Post Office. He told him-

self he wasn’t going to watch the organi-

sation die a slow death. He had the ex-

pertise, he had the passion and he could

make things happen.

Just watch him.

So he approached the then deputy

president, who was in charge of state-

owned enterprises (SOEs), outlined his

vision – and in 2016 he was appointed

CEO of the Post Office.

In three-and-a-half years he managed

to turn the ailing state-owned enterprise

around. Once R1,49 billion in the red and

on the verge of having to shed 5 000 jobs,

it was on track to becoming profitable by

2021.

But Mark (63) has had enough now.

On 1 August he handed in his resigna-

tion, disillusioned by the government

and the Post Office board who were no

longer buying into his vision.

His plan was bold. He’d wanted to turn

the old dinosaur into a forward-looking,

integrated delivery channel that encom-

passed e-commerce, logistics, financial

services and mail.

“That’s an international model now,”

hesays.“ThePostOfficeisjustinfra-

structurewitha technologybackbone.

“InEuropeandothercountries,they

haveinsidethemdeepfinancialservices

becausethey’reyouraccesspoint.In

fact,inmanyinstancesthey’vereplaced

thebanknetworkasthefirstpointof

accessforthepeople.”

Butheeventuallygaveup.“Thereason

I leftistheywanttoseparatethebank

fromthePostOfficeandthat’snota sur-

vivalstrategy.

“I justdon’tthinkthatcouldwork.”

M

ARKissippingblackcof-

feeinnewlyopenedThe

HoughtonHotelinJohan-

nesburgaftera business

meeting.

His phone has not

stoppedringingsincehisresignation,he

says,andhe’sexploringmanyoptionsfor

thefuture.Buthe’sdonewiththePost

Officenowthathisdreamhascrumbled.

Partofhisstrategywastomakethe

PostOfficeprofitableandinjectmoney

intothetreasurybymakingit farmore

thananentitythatdeliversmail.

“Youshould[beableto]doeverything

inthepostoffice,”hesays.

“Whycan’tyoucollectARVs[anti-

retroviralmedication]ordownloadUn-

isalecturenotesatyourlocalbranch?”

Markwasstartingtoenterintotalks

withtheTurkishpostofficeandpostof-

ficeselsewhereinAfricatocreatean

e-commercebusinessthat“wasgoingto

challenge[e-commercegiants]Alibaba

andAmazon”.

“Butif youdecoupleallofthatandsay,

‘Mark,thisis justthePostOffice.. .’ Well,

that’sactuallynota growingbusiness.

“Ifyouwantthistobejusta postoffice

thatdeliverslettersthenI’mafraidyou’re

goingtobesubsidisingit fortherestof

yourlife,MrGovernment.”

UnderMark,thePostOfficetookover

thepaymentofsocialgrants,whichwas

“abigdeal”,hesays.

SORRY, BUT

I’M DONE!

He came in with a vision for the Post Office

but now Mark Barnes has resigned because

of his differences with the powers that be

BY GABISILE NGCOBO PICTURE: LUBABALO LESOLLE

18 | 29 AUGUST 2019 you.co.za^

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