South African Post Office Needs R3.8 Billion for Bailout, SA Rejects Its Suggestion
- The Post Office needs R3.8 billion to save the state-owned enterprise from certain collapse
- The business rescue practitioners revealed that the Post Office has not been making money in over 15 years
- South Africans refused to accept that the SAPO needed a bailout and wondered why it was still operating
Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News's current affairs journalist, offered coverage of current affairs and societal issues during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.
Source: Getty Images
The South African Post Office wants a R3.8 billion bailout for the ailing state-owned enterprise. This is even though it has bled R19 billion over the past few years. South Africans rejected the Post Office's request and were fed up with failing SOEs being bailed out.
SAPO operating at a loss
According to TimesLIVE, the Post Office's business rescuers Juanito Damons and Anoosh Rooplal believe that SAPO lost almost R20 billion because of an inability to adapt to technological development. A document they drafted revealed that the Post Office's operational costs exceed revenue by 200 per cent. Furthermore, the company has outdated IT infrastructure and inefficient equipment for processing mail. They added that the logistics fleet is unreliable and prevents SAPO from meeting its customers' needs.
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The rescuers added that the last time the Post Office made any profit was in 2004. Since then, it has been operating at a loss. Another solution the document offered was retrenching some 6000 employees, which would require R600 million for retrenchment packages. This means that if 6000 employees were retrenched, each would get R100,000.
Mzansi is fed up with bailing SOEs out
South Africans on Facebook decried the Post office and their request for a bailout.
Puleng Seitshiro asked:
“Why should our hard-earned tax money be repeatedly wasted on the Post Office when it has nothing much to offer the public? Instead, we use Postnet and Takealot and many other courier companies.”
Richard Munwanati added:
“Bailout after bailout. What’s up with these entities? Surely there must be other ways to ensure that state-owned entities sustain themselves. They are supposed to be making money and employing many people, but instead, they are sacking lots of taxpayers’ money for nothing.”
Ruansa Van Eeden wrote:
“Another ANC success story.”
Mxolisi Kheswa remarkwd:
“The ANC rot has finally reached the ceiling. No more bailouts, please.”
Lindiwe Sisulu blames PostBank for no payments
In a related story, Briefly News reported that the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, apologised to SASSA recipients and blamed the Postbank for the delay in grant payment.
This was after many grant recipients had not received their payouts in September. South Africans were tired of the government shifting blame and voiced their frustrations on social media.
Source: Briefly News
