Creditors vote in favour of cutting 6k Post Office jobs
Creditors of the South African Post Office have voted in favour of a business rescue plan, which will see the entity receiving a R3.8 billion bailout from the government.
The plan, which was first published last month, also includes cutting 6000 jobs and closing more than 400 branches.
SAPO Business Rescue Practitioners Anoosh Rooplal and Juanito Damons, say the Post Office will be repurposed to provide diversified and expanded services through hybrid mail extensions, new motor licence disc solutions, increased property rental revenues and the creation of a digital hub for inclusive communications.
“The Post Office fulfils an important social mandate intended to provide key basic communications services to all households, including the rural areas, where access to wifi, smartphones and printers are not a given. A restructured Post Office can do this affordably and conveniently, given certain regulatory pricing and geographic reach of the branch network," saif Rooplal.
The plan will be adopted in two phases over a two to five-year period.
"Phase 1 will involve stabilising the business, reducing the branch network to some 600 branches and rightsizing the headcount to some 5,000 employees. Up-skilling current staff and employing additional digital specialists and leaders will assist in the modernisation and digitisation transition.
“The focus will be on improving service delivery levels, which will include increasing its fleet to deliver letter and parcels timeously.
New digital products will be considered and launched to increase revenue streams while automating more of the daily tasks," read the statement.
The SA Post Office will also shift the function of paying social grant beneficiaries to Postbank - which has also struggled with technical glitches in the past months, leaving thousands of grant recipients throughout the country without their money for days.
The BRPs believe that the Plan will achieve a better return for creditors and a better outcome for all other affected persons than liquidation.
Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Gungubele welcomed the plan, saying it sets the government on course in turning the tide in saving the Post Office in the interest of the country's developmental agenda.
ALSO READ: SA Post Office: "Your parcel is locked at a branch that is closed"
"The SA Post Office remains an important institution in our postal services network nationally and in the SADC region.
“Most importantly, we remain committed to ensuring that we build a ‘South African Post Office of Tomorrow’, which provides quality, affordable and accessible services to the people of South Africa, particularly in this digital era," he said.
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