The plan to fix the SA Post Office

While the retrenchment of thousands of SA Post Office (Sapo) staff could not be averted, business rescue practitioners were yesterday bullish about prospects of turning around the state-owned entity to profitability.

Juanito Damons and Anoosh Rooplal were confident about taking around the entity, which has cost the government billions of rands in bailouts.

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The business rescue practitioners have proposed an action to reduce the annual employee cost by about R1.2 billion, coming up with a plan to right size the business through the retrenchment of about 6 000 of the 11 083 staff complement.

“We are following the business rescue plan, which has two phases to it.

“We remain in talks with government on the R3.8 billion second tranche of funding for the SA Post Office. The plan will be adopted in two phases over a suspected two to five-year implementation period.

“Phase one will involve stabilising the business, reducing the branch network to some 600 branches and rightsizing the headcount. It will also include upskilling staff and a skill set to support the business in its modernisation and digitisation transition.

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“Focus will be on improving service delivery levels, which will include increasing its fleet to deliver letters and parcels timeously. New digital products will be considered and launched to increase revenue streams,” they told The Citizen.

“In phase two, we will implement Sapo’s corporate strategy and ultimately achieve the outcomes defined in the Postal Amendment Bill.

“The Post Office will be repurposed to provide diversified and expanded services through hybrid mail extensions, new motor licence disc solutions, increased property rentals or sales of owned property and the creation of a digital hub for inclusive communications.”