Business rescue practitioner denies fraud, abuse of post office workers

Business rescue practitioner denies fraud, abuse of post office workers

One of the joint business rescue practitioners dealing with the South African Post Office (Sapo) has denied claims of fraud and abuse of employees which were made by the the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) this week.

Anoosh Rooplal was speaking for Sapo and the Ministry of Communications and Digital Technology.

Sapo is in the process of retrenching about 6 000 of its 11 083 employees. The trade union federation earlier this week condemned what it labelled the “abuse” of workers, citing 40% salary cuts as a major concern.

Cosatu said: “The pending retrenchments of 6 000 postal workers comes on the back of management failing to pay workers their backpay and denying access to their medical aid services by fraudulently failing to transfer their contributions to their scheme despite deducting them.

“This is a criminal offence that the Hawks, Sars, the SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority need to be seized with.”

The federation said the government should recapitalise the SA Post Office and Postbank to give them a fair chance and the necessary liquidity to compete in their sectors.

“Government – at all levels from national, provincial to local, from SOEs to entities – needs to play its role in utilising the Post Office and Postbank as their preferred service providers. This is important if these institutions are to have a fighting chance of stabilising and succeeding,” it said.

In an effort to “correct misconceptions and inaccuracies” by Cosatu, Rooplal said full salaries minus benefits were being paid when Sapo went into business rescue and payments had continued.

“There has been no reduction in salaries since business rescue, nor are there any salary reductions drafted into the business rescue plan,” he said.

Rooplal said when they took over as business rescue practitioners on July 10, 2023, no medical aid payments were being made to the relevant medical aids.

“The Sapo management had made a decision to pay salaries net of these medical aid benefits with the money that was available at the time. To reiterate, no medical aid payments were being deducted from salaries, hence no alleged fraudulent transfer on the part of management was being made,” he said.

He said they prioritised negotiations with the relevant medical aids and announced to staff that from August 1, 2023, all medical aid contribution payments were being made to the medical aid schemes.

However, he said not all medical aids were allowing employees access to benefits.

“We had committed to pay contributions going forward to ensure that members of the respective schemes are afforded access to the benefits.

“We confirm that these contributions are still currently being paid.

Employees also have the right to choose a different identified medical aid should they wish to and were communicated to as such.”

Rooplal said the medical aid and retirement fund claims against the company were dealt with in terms of the business rescue plan, which the creditors voted in favour for and approved on December 7, 2023.

According to Rooplal, the Post Office’s financial sustainability was a critical concern, with costs consistently exceeding 200% of its revenue since the 2022 fiscal year, and that right sizing would reduce the annual employee cost by about R1.2 billion.

He said the business rescue practitioners welcomed Cosatu’s comments that the government should recapitalise the Post Office to give it a fair chance and the necessary liquidity to compete in their sectors.

The Mercury