SA Post Office, Post Bank face R7bn funding crisis as rescue practitioners prepare exit

SA Post Office Business Rescue Practitioners leave the entity with a R1.7 billion paper profit

- BANELE GININDZA

UNCERTAINTY surrounds the funding of about R7 billion needed to recapitalise both the South African Post Office (SAPO) and the Post Bank after National Treasury firmly ruled itself out as an option.

This comes as the SAPO Business Rescue Practitioners prepare to exit the process, leaving the entity with a R1.7bn paper profit.

During a briefing to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Digital Technologies and Communications on Tueaday, SAPO's Group acting CEO, Fathima Gany, expressed the urgency of the situation.

Gany said SAPO required R3.8bn to efficiently run its extensive network of 657 branches while integrating necessary digitisation capabilities.

"The magic number is R3.8bn. It could be anything else, unfortunately the fiscus doesn't have the ability to give us that and we have to appreciate that. How do we get SAPO fit for business to operate in this futuristic space that's digitalised?" Gany said.