More job cuts on the cards for the Post Office

JOHANNESBURG - The embattled South African Post Office (SAPO) will shed more jobs this year as it plans to close a further 235 branches.

Thousands are expected to be retrenched over-and-above the already 6,000 SAPO employees who lost their jobs. 

Since the covid-19 pandemic almost a third of SAPO's branches have closed.

Responding to a Parliamentary question last month, Communications Minister, Mondli Gungubele, revealed that the doors of almost 250 Post Bank branches would close this year.

Majority of these branches are located in the Free State and North West, accounting to 104 out of the 235 branches set to close.

SAPO's business rescue practitioners previously reported that the entity’s liabilities was in excess of R 12 billion.

They say they cannot comment on the exact branches which will close, as they are still in the process of retrenchments and it would be unfair to employees who might have not yet been briefed.

Despite the major job cuts, government has reaffirmed its belief that the SA Post Bank is an essential service which cannot collapse.