Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - Approximately 100 union members started marching in Johannesburg on Thursday to protest alleged maladministration at the South African Post Office (Sapo).
UPDATE: More members have reportedly joined the CWU march on Thursday afternoon as television news station eNCA has reported seeing 1 000 workers marching.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said on Wednesday that it expected 4 000 of its members, including Post Office workers, to take to the streets on Thursday.
But fewer workers turned up after the Johannesburg Labour Court on Wednesday granted Sapo an urgent interdict to restrain the CWU from striking, marching or picketing at the Sapo’s work premises.
The workers nevertheless kicked off their march outside Johannesburg’s Constitutional Hill where provincial chairperson Veli Zulu addressed the crowd, and called for the Public Protector and Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to release reports on alleged corruption at Sapo.
“Why is there no outcome with regard to the public protector report,” Zulu told the crowd.
“We remind you comrades that government is a 100% owner of the South African Post Office but we are treated like a stepchild of government,” he said.
The CWU marchers on Thursday targeted reaching legislative offices in Johannesburg’s central business district where they planned to hand over a memorandum to Gauteng Premier David Makhura outlining their demands for government to take action regarding Sapo.
Communication Workers Union members marching to government offices in Johannesburg. (Gareth van Zyl)
“If you manage to bail out SAA and Eskom, then bail out the Post Office. It's not fair,” CWU marcher Felicity Makwela told Fin24.
"That's why we feel we need to tell the government that the Post Office needs a bailout. Post Office is in a crisis,” she said.
The march this week has also come amid Sapo having publicly disclosed that it’s struggling to pay its staff salaries in full.
‘No impact’
Meanwhile, Sapo spokesperson Khulani Qoma told Fin24 that Post Offices were operating as per normal.
“It looks like their isn’t really a big impact,” Sapo spokesperson Khulani Qoma told Fin24.
“The only area of concern surrounds international mail,” he said.
Qoma explained to Fin24 that Sapo’s Johannesburg International Mail Centre has 200 employees in total and that “some of them are absent this morning”.
