Treasury bailout sorts out Post Office’s money woes

Despite chief executive Mark Barnes’ resignation, allegedly due to differences, the South African Post Office (Sapo) said it had no financial issues after a bailout by Treasury and it was now focused on reviving itself to become a strong competitor.

Board member Charles Nwaila confirmed the resignation of Barnes.

He said Barnes had “tendered his resignation, citing differences on strategy in relation to the structure of the SA Post Office group, in particular the location of Postbank”.

Barnes was of the view that the separation of the Post Office and the Postbank would be unattainable, he said.

Group chief operating officer Lindiwe Kwele would be interim CEO until a permanent candidate was appointed.

The Post Office was looking at appointing a permanent CEO with urgency, with the aid of relevant stakeholders including Minister of Communications Stella Ndabeni-Adams, said Nwaila.

He also claimed it was able to pay all its debt with the bailout money from Treasury.

The bailout came earlier this year when Finance Minister Tito Mboweni gave Eskom R69 billion from the state’s coffers, while Denel and the South African Post Office received more than R1 billion each. South African Airways was given a government guarantee of more than R6 billion.

“We have paid all our debt and if you look at the insolvency and liquidity lists, you will not find us because we now have a sound financial standing,” Nwaila said. “We are now focused on our 2030 national development plan, which is about modernising the Post Office to be more competitive in the future.”

He said Sapo had already started acting on its plan and hoped to introduce operations and “game changers” that would allow it to retain its relevancy. The Citizen requested a copy of the plan but had not received by the time of going to print.

Barnes was also unavailable for comment.

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