Inept South African Post Office: Post Office racks up R304 million debt with landlords
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2003: S.Africa: 75 of matriculants won‘t get jobs
75 of school leavers who pass their exams won‘t be able to get jobs!
[Useless, worthless. Jan]
The South African Post Office (Sapo) has run up a debt of around R305 million in unpaid rentals and utility bills.
Communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni revealed the amount in response to questions from the FF Plus’s Wouter Wessels.
Ntshavheni said that as of 31 January 2022, Sapo owes R304 million in unpaid rent and utilities to landlords.
She added that the state-owned postal service had run up a municipal bill of R915,000 for water and electricity, current as of 10 February.
She attributed the outstanding amounts to Sapo’s “constrained cash flow position”, adding that the company’s costs have exceeded revenue resulting in losses.
“The losses are unfunded, resulting in Sapo having insufficient funds to settle liabilities,” Ntshavheni said.
The Post Office has requested funding through the Medium Term Expenditure Framework to pay its bills.
Ntshavheni also explained that Sapo is implementing its revised strategy to improve its operational and financial performance.
Wessels asked the minister what effect Sapo’s financial situation could have on its customers.
She explained that due to the debt, many Sapo branches are closed, with several landlords having locked the premises, and that this would hurt its customers.
Ntshavheni also said that Sapo’s revenue would take a further hit from branch closures as they will not generate income.
Sapo’s financial struggles are not new. Last year, the postal service ran up a debt with its medical aid scheme, Medipos, totalling R602 million.
Medipos’s principal officer, Thabasiwe Mlotshwa, explained that Sapo had failed to pay the scheme contributions made by employees for 15 months.
“On the odd occasion that we do receive some form of contribution, it will only be partial payment,” said Mlotshwa.
What’s worse is that the deductions still appeared on Sapo employee payslips.
Solidarity, a South African trade union, then submitted an urgent court application to force it to pay the contributions.
Shortly after that, Sapo asked government for an R8.16 billion bailout to help the postal service survive.
The South African Post Office’s general manager of Legal Services, Motsiri Elias Matimulane, explained that the Covid-19 pandemic had further strained its already limited financial resources.
He added that this had resulted in a liquidity crisis at the post office. As a result, some creditors, property rentals, medical aid contributions, pension fund contributions, and SARS obligations have remained unpaid.
Sapo’s new fees were gazetted by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa earlier this year.
South Africans will pay approximately 6% more for ordinary mail, Fastmail, and domestic counter-to-counter parcel services from 1 April.
2005: Black Failure: S.Africa: Half of SA pupils do not reach matric
Under Black rule: About half of all South African children drop out of school before they reach Grade 12. The vast majority of these are Black kids.
