The cash-strapped SA Post Office (Sapo) is unable to pay rent for some of its premises and service providers, leaving many, especially small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in a bind at a time when Covid-19 has already dealt a blow to the economy.
The Post Office, which has unpaid invoices totalling R638m, has admitted that it is battling to pay its creditors and is servicing debt according to a priority schedule, which it says is being communicated to all service providers.
However, service providers, who spoke to Business Day on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said they have not been paid since August 2020 and have had little to no communication from the Post Office.
A landlord from a town in the Free State said the entity has not paid rent in six months. At first the landlord locked the doors hoping that it would “scare” the company into paying rent. However, this did not work.
“They were not fazed at all, they couldn’t care less whether the closed doors will prohibit the Sassa [SA Social Security Agency] funds to be paid out, nothing, it didn’t scare them at all,” the landlord said.
On the second day of the doors being locked, she decided to open the doors after realising clinics in the area would be unable to get their medicine, which was delivered to the Post Office.
“The sisters from the clinics approached us saying ‘please won’t you just open up for us because our medicine is coming in’ and then we realised we are dealing with health matters, life and death, so we said to each other listen ... we are not going to close.
“Normally that is what you do when a tenant does not pay and you take some of their stuff, you can get very nasty if you want to, but we decided not to because this is the lifeline for many of the communities to either the Sassa funds, or the medicine, or the educational stuff that they have to have delivered to them to study. What will [then happen] if you take a community so far that they don’t receive that?” the landlord said.
A service provider from Gauteng said he has been waiting for six months now to get payment out of the Post Office. The delay has resulted in his businesses shutting down and he is owed R500,000, he says.
“Our operations are dead, we are just a mere SMME. I don’t have a company anymore because of that entity,” he said.
“Just imagine, you trying as a black, upcoming entrepreneur and then this government does these types of things to us. I don’t have a company anymore, the only thing I am waiting for is just my money.”
Calls to the department of finance and e-mails to the acting CFO have gone unanswered, he said.
The Post Office said like many other businesses, its cash flow has been adversely affected by Covid-19 restrictions and economic downturn.
“The Post Office is unable to pay all rental, but is paying debtors according to a priority list and is negotiating with property owners and other debtors to come to agreement,” it said.
“Sapo is in constant communication with our landlords to update them on the status of rental payments.”
The entity said ways to improve its revenue are showing results and debtors will be paid.
The Post Office has been on a 13-year money-losing track and plagued by management and financial problems. It is expected to show a R2.1bn loss for the 2020/2021 fiscal year.
Sapo has been dogged by complaints over backlogs and delays in mail delivery and parcels — something that is likely to accelerate its demise as clients opt for private-sector alternatives.
It has had leadership instability with the removal of two acting CEOs in the space of a year since Mark Barnes resigned after clashing with the board and the government over its decision to hive off Postbank, the financial services arm of the Post Office, and the removal of board chair Colleen Makhubele.
This resulted in a heated battle between Makhubele and communications, telecommunications & postal services minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams. Makhubele accused the minister of interfering and destabilising the company, which Ndabeni-Abrahams has denied.
Last week Nomkhita Mona was appointed as the new CEO, as announced at a post-cabinet meeting briefing. Mona is the third CEO, after Barnes, and takes over from Reneilwe Langa, who had been seconded from the department of communications & digital technologies to act in the position.
Ndabeni-Abrahams said on Monday Mona’s appointment comes at a time when Sapo is faced with financial challenges, amid a constrained fiscus. The new CEO will take on the responsibility of stabilising the Post Office, she said.
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