MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

We’re on the Road to Nowhere

By

Dear Editor

The turnaround strategy of the South African Post Office to reposition the entity into the “Post Office of Tomorrow” is a hopeless pathway to nowhere.

This ambitious document is centred around the lofty goal of moving the Post Office towards a “modernisation and digital transformation strategy to replace legacy systems with modern technologies.”

All of this is solely dependent on application for a National Treasury bail out of R8 billion that the Post Office needs to settle its debts and upgrade its technological infrastructure to compete in the postal and courier services market.

It is astounding that an entire turn around strategy for a collapsing institution could base its entire survival on a bail out when the Post Office has been operating at a loss since 2013.

The Post Office has been a serial dependent on bail outs for far too long without improvements in its declining operations.

The crux of the turnaround strategy is a series of cost cutting measures across the board without a solid plan for profit sustainability.

Some of these cost cutting measure including introducing “Voluntary Severance Package” that will result in reducing the staff from 15600 to 9000 over two years at a cost of R420 million and reducing spending on security and bank charges by R1.5 billion in 2022/24.

Yet that will not be enough to make it profitable given that it’s liabilities stand at R6.7 billion, including a R2.4 billion it owes the Post Bank.

The DA believes that yet another bail out without changing the ownership structure of the Post Office is like feeding a dead horse.

The future of the Post Office lies in dismantling the full state control and making the space for private investment.

Regards

Solly Malatsi MP
DA Shadow Minister of Telecommunications and Digital Services

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.