The South African Post Office’s joint business rescue practitioners have asked the high court to end the entity’s business rescue, declaring the adopted plan substantially implemented nearly three years after the troubled state-owned company was placed under supervision.

Anoosh Rooplal and Juanito Damons launched the application in the Pretoria high court on 12 June, seeking an order terminating the proceedings and authorising the filing of a notice of substantial implementation under the Companies Act. A court date is still awaited.

The move marks a big shift in tone from earlier this year, when the same practitioners were warning that liquidation was the only option left to them absent a R3.8-billion government bailout that never came. In March, Rooplal told TechCentral that chapter 6 of the Companies Act compelled the BRPs to file for liquidation where they saw no reasonable prospect of rescue – and that they were close to pulling that trigger.

The path to an exit cleared in early June, when cabinet approved a new board, removing the final procedural hurdle to the application. Acting CEO Fathima Gany had said the court filing would follow only once a new board and executive team were in place. The new board’s tenure begins on 22 June.

The BRPs pointed to a materially repaired balance sheet as evidence the plan has done its work. The Post Office moved to a positive net asset value of R840-million, from negative R7.9-billion, rendering it technically solvent. For the 12 months to 31 March 2026 it reported a net loss of R71-million, down sharply from R514-million the year before and the lowest in several years. Revenue edged up by R2-million to R1.54-billion.

Retrenchments

Creditor debt was cut from roughly R8.7-billion to R440-million. More than 99% of the approved 12c-in-the-rand distribution – about R1.02-billion – had been paid to creditors by August 2024, against an estimated liquidation return of just 4.08c in the rand.

The cost base was taken down hard. A section 189A process retrenched 4 342 employees by April 2024, cutting monthly staff costs from R211.9-million to R115-million and saving about R1.2-billion/year. A total of 366 branches were permanently closed, leaving 657, including sites retained to serve rural communities.

Read: Cabinet hands the Post Office a board, but not a bailout

“The business rescue process has stabilised Sapo’s balance sheet and significantly improved its operational position. The entity is currently paying its liabilities in the ordinary course of business,” Rooplal and Damons said.

What the application does not resolve is the funding crisis that has shadowed the rescue from the start. The Post Office received an initial R2.4-billion government allocation, used for creditor distributions, retrenchment costs and operational cash flow. The second R3.8-billion tranche – earmarked for capital investment and modernisation, and a condition of the plan’s 18c top-up dividend to statutory and payroll creditors – was never released and has now lapsed.

As a result, modernisation initiatives including IT upgrades, digital services and broadband capability now fall to the shareholder and the new board. The BRPs said the next phase “requires shareholder-led intervention, injection of capital and permanent governance structures” – precisely the support that successive national budgets have declined to provide, and that communications minister Solly Malatsi has so far been unable to secure from the national treasury.

In the interim, Gany has established a “high care leadership team” to oversee a transition programme intended to preserve the gains made under rescue and steer the entity towards stability. The team reports to the board and does not replace its authority.

Watch: Anoosh Rooplal on the Post Office’s last stand

The BRPs conceded the turnaround is incomplete. “Although challenges remain and Sapo is not yet fully out of difficulty, the organisation is operating from a more stable foundation,” they said. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media