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Mail piles up at Post Office

Cape Town - With the postal strike in its third month, Post Office depots are now filled to capacity as thousands of undelivered items are added each day to an ever increasing pile – a pile that might only be cleared by January.

According to the Sunday Times, more than 15 million letters and parcels were piled up on a single day last week at depots around the country.

By Tuesday, there was a backlog of 11.4 million items at just one dept in Johannesburg. But if all returns to normal next week, some depots will manage to clear backlogs by Christmas but others only in January.

READ: Cwele: Lagging price hikes hit Post Office

News24 reported last month that mismanagement, coupled with allegations of fraud and nepotism, have dogged the South African Post Office (Sapo) for years and unions have complained that management refused to negotiate with them, with the result that the largest of the three labour organisations, the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU), called and maintained a strike almost three months ago.  

It was also the CWU that three years ago requested an investigation by the public protector into claimed mismanagement, fraud and nepotism at Sapo involving up to R2.1bn. This followed years of complaints about senior management allegedly hiring staff through “buddy-buddy” labour brokers at costs higher than permanent staff.

However, because of capacity constraints, the public protector investigation was outsourced and, when submitted, was not of a sufficient standard. “It has been a very long time coming,” said CWU general secretary Aubrey Tshabalala. The union has made it clear that, if the report substantiates the detailed complaints of the CWU, criminal charges should follow.

READ:
Police probing post office strike violence

In this, the CWU is supported by the South African Postal Workers’ Union (Sapwu). The union's members did not join the strike, but it supported the CWU contention that Sapo has been riddled with waste, mismanagement and probable fraud.  

Because of financial constraints, which was “entirely the responsibility of management,” said Tshabalala, it is understood that the pay offer to Sapo workers for this year has been pegged at 6.5%. However, there is an undertaking that a further increase could be possible in January “if and when matters stabilise”.

One issue that the unions have won is the removal of labour brokers from providing sometimes long-term workers for Sapo.

READ: Too many cooks in Post Office strike kitchen

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