South African Post Office to retrench close to 5000 workers

South African Post Office to retrench close to 5000 workers

The South African Post Office (SAPO) will retrench over 4700 workers as it fights to remain viable.

The decision comes as the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) announced that the Temporary Employee-Employer Relief Scheme (TERS) application was unsuccessful.

SA POST OFFICE CONTINUES TO RETRENCH

In March, the job cuts were stalled as SAPO reportedly reached an agreement with unions to rescind the retrenchment notices. This would have potentially safeguarded 4700 jobs for at least the next 12 months.

Under the proposed agreement, 75% of salaries will be covered by the Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme, with the remaining 25% financed by the Post Office.

Earlier in April, BusinessTech reported that 235 post offices are due to close across the country. Most are in the Free State and North West, followed by North Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga.

Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) had already sent retrenchment letters to 4 700 workers.

GOVERNMENT CONFIRMS JOB CUTS

In February 2023, a creditor placed SAPO under provisional liquidation, and its debts stood at some R4 billion at the time. Cabinet approved a voluntary business rescue based on a continuity report.

Following the confirmation, in an interview with the SABC, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Mondli Gungubele defended the decision to retrench workers.

Gungubele said the interventions are to ensure that the Post Office becomes viable even if the number of branches that it’s going to have are those branches that are going to make sure that it stays afloat.

“I cannot give the exact names of the branches because as they (Business Rescue Practitioners) work on these, they keep on finding a particular characteristic as they deal with them,” he said.