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I’ve been fortunate enough to limit my dealings with the South African Post Office (SAPO).

Anything ordered from overseas is done via a courier service that handles customs and other affairs and delivers to my door, and anything that needs to be sent locally is also done via private courier.

That’s not an option for millions of South Africans, who also rely on SAPO for social grants and other essential services.

Despite being such a vital institution, the latest financial report for the year ending March 31, 2020, shows that the state-owned entity is technically insolvent.

For 14 years running, SAPO has lost money, incurring losses of almost nearly R1,8 billion, with its current liabilities exceeding its current assets by nearly R1,5 billion.

Over the past seven years, SAPO has received around R8 billion in bailouts from government, but is still unable to pay the rent on some properties, with 53 branches temporarily closing last month due to disputes with landlords.

Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke pointed this out in the financial report, reports IOL, making it clear that SAPO is commercially insolvent because they were unable to pay their debts.

During the 2019/2020 financial year, SAPO also managed to rack up irregular expenditure in excess of R200 million, with wasteful expenditure exceeding R26 million.

Those are rather euphemistic terms, I’m sure you are aware, with the AG finding “no evidence that officials behind the irregular as well as fruitless and wasteful expenditure have been held to account”.

SAPO, through group CEO Nomkhita Mona, argues that an obsolete business model and the COVID-19 pandemic have escalated problems, but again, we’re looking at 14 years of losses in a row.

There’s no quick fix for those who rely on SAPO day in and day out, but I would suggest to anybody who orders products from overseas to make use of a service like Postbox Courier.

You can even order products that don’t ship to South Africa, using an overseas address provided for you, but the real delight is bypassing customs.

Postbox Courier will provide you with a quote, free of charge, which includes customs charges, VAT, and those other costs that can sometimes catch you unawares.

Once you’re paid up, the items will be delivered within three to five working days, and you won’t have to set foot inside your local post office.

Which, as mentioned earlier, may not have paid the rent.

As things stand, SAPO is rather predictably set to once again ask the government to provide further taxpayer-funded bailouts.

[sources:iol&citizen]