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Post Office soothes salary payment fears

Cape Town - The SA Post Office (Sapo) had to soothe fears of employees that they will not get paid this month.

A Fin24 user called on Friday afternoon to say Post Office workers did not get their salaries on Friday.

"My wife works for the Post Office and apparently no-one got paid," the reader said.

Sapo was put under administration in November last year after a protracted four-month strike. It is currently under administration and is trying to find its feet after a prolonged strike affected its business operations.

Fin24 approached Sapo to clarify the situation. Sapo made it clear that employees below management level will get paid on Saturday July 25 and management will get paid at the end of the month.

According to Sapo spokesperson Khulani Qoma, Sapo revenue has been down since it had been hit by strikes. Some customers left Sapo due to these frequent, lengthy and very disruptive strikes.

READ: Publishers abandon SA Post Office, demand answers

Qoma said the strategic turnaround plan of Sapo's administrator is at its inception in terms of implementation. Funding is still being sought to enable the plan to gain adequate traction.

It is a 3-year plan, and Qoma pointed out that within a month of its approval, it is too soon to expect that Sapo has "turned around".

There are still suppliers that are owed money by Sapo as indicated to Parliament. Their payment is part of the funding plan that is being implemented.

"Sapo has liquidity challenges that are beyond monthly trading issues. There is a backlog in paying suppliers. Unless funding is raised from outside, current cost levels will have to be dropped by at least R100m per month," according to Qoma.

Sapo was allowed to draw down R270m and part of the funding strategy is to allow Sapo options to access more funding using some of the guarantee.

"Severance packages will help reduce monthly cash outflow, but unfortunately, this process also needs funding. They, therefore, depend on negotiations with unions and the implementation of the funding plan currently being explored," said Qoma.

ALSO READ: Post Office is stone walling Icasa complaint - Yelland

Are you a Post Office employee who did not get paid? Let us know if you have still not been paid on July 25.

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