DA, EFF take swipe at ANC for SAPO retrenchments, poor performance

CAPE TOWN - The Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have blamed the African National Congress (ANC) for the retrenchment of 4,700 South African Post Office employees.

The DA has described the retrenchments as "devastating" while the EFF called them "callous" and a "grave injustice" to people's livelihoods. 

The parties say the retrenchments will affect over 40% of the struggling State entity's workforce.

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Furthermore, they believe this has been coming for a while due to mismanagement. 

DA communications and digital technologies spokesperson Natasha Mazzone.

“Unfortunately, this has been long in the making, as the ANC continues its gross mismanagement of the Post Office. Since 2014, SAPO has received more than R10 billion from the taxpayer, including R2.4 billion in last year’s budget,” she said.

Despite this, added Mazzone, 6,000 jobs have been lost.

The EFF, meanwhile, denounced what it calls the governing ANC's negligence in running the post office.

The party proposed the scrapping of debt that has impacted the struggling state-owned enterprises.