Catastrophe warning if post office does not get urgent bailout
Postbank spin-off will dry up revenue source, says Boyce Maneli
Parliament’s communications portfolio committee chair Boyce Maneli says if the state fails to allocate funds to the SA Post Office it could be “catastrophic” to service delivery.
Maneli wrote to parliament’s finance committee last week saying the decision not to allocate funding to the SAPO in the medium-term budget policy statement tabled last month was “erroneous”.
The technically insolvent SOE has been pushing for a R1.6bn bailout to stay afloat. The SAPO is meant to be a key medium of communication, especially in rural and remote areas, but is one of a long list of SOES reliant on constant bailouts.
The most recent Post Office annual report, tabled in parliament in October, said it incurred losses of R2.2bn (down from R3bn the year before) and its liabilities exceeded assets by R4bn. It could not pay debts.
The auditor-general issued a disclaimer — the worst possible audit outcome — and queried its ability to stay afloat.
Unions have warned of looming retrenchments at the entity, which employs about 16,000 people, with up to 40% of these jobs said to be on the line. The unions want the state to intervene to avoid job cuts.
Maneli said a cash injection would help soften the blow to the Post Office of its separation from Postbank, envisioned in a bill in process at the moment.
The bill could see the state finally realise ANC plans to set up a state-owned bank.
The separation would cut the Post Office off from a crucial revenue stream.
The split is needed for Postbank to get a full banking licence, as the Post Office is not in a sound enough financial position to meet requirements for registration as a bank-controlling company in terms of the Banks Act.
Postbank has been doing transactions for the underbanked and unbanked but its current status precludes it from engaging in the full spread of banking activities, such as offering credit.