The cash-strapped South African Post Office (Sapo) will struggle to pay its staff their salaries this month.
This is according to a written response on 16 October by the Post Office to the Communication Workers Union, the South African Postal Workers Union and the Democratic Postal and Communication Union regarding October 2015 salary payments.
In the letter, the Post Office explained that because of “current financial constraints”, it is unable to pay full salaries on 25 October 2015.
“Payment will be made as follows: 50% on the 25 October 2015; and the balance will be paid on the 31 October 2015,” wrote the Post Office official in the letter.
“We can confirm that we are facing an objective negative financial position (this fact has been shared with all our partners and the public previously),” said Post Office spokesman Khulani Qoma via e-mail.
“Unfortunately, this impacts our most priced (sic) asset, our employees, amongst many other partners. Consequently, our salary run for this month will be based on a 50%/50% split, with one portion occurring on the 25th and the balance on the 31st of October.
“This approach was the best the company could afford under these extremely difficult conditions. We are in conversation with our labour partners to mitigate immediate impact while we continue to work towards a sustainable partnership,” said Qoma.
The Post Office was plunged into turmoil in 2014 amid a crippling strike and a poor financial performance.
The months-long strike resulted in post piling up and the Post Office board resigning in November 2014.
The company was then also put into administration as it struggled to pay suppliers and staff. Earlier this year, it was reported that it expected to report a loss of R1,3bn. — Fin24
