Statement by Nqabayomzi Kwankwa, UDM Deputy President

The United Democratic Movement (UDM) believes that the African National Congress-led (ANC) government’s endorsement of a “business rescue plan” that will leave 6,000 Post Office employees jobless is just another case of ordinary workers paying for the ANC government’s mismanagement of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Workers are retrenched from SOEs with the justification that a reduction in the salary-bill will improve their financial situations, yet they remain in the same precarious positions despite the retrenchments; it is not the salary-bill that is the problem, it is the financial mismanagement.

There is not even a single state entity that the ANC-led government has touched or managed since 1994 that does not need to be rescued or turned around, using the very same taxpayers’ money who the government is about to fire. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and it is about to happen to all state entities, if it has not happened already.

The South African Post Office asset-base is dwarfed by its total liabilities of approximately R12.5 billion, which they claim informs the key concerns regarding the viability of the business rescue that will see 6,000 employees being retrenched from the state entity.

This so-called R3,8 billion business rescue bailout is apparently intended to restructure and modernise the South African Post Office (SAPO), yet this is not the way to go about modernising the business. SAPO must become responsive to its main client base in the rural areas and do market research on what their requirements are in order to develop services that cater to their needs, for example an insurance offer through diversifying their financial services,

The UDM has noted several layoffs in the country. The ANC-led government is putting thousands of families in danger of not being able to pay their bills and going hungry.

These citizens are also the ones who must vote the current administration out of office in the National and Provincial Elections of 2024.

We cannot tolerate a government that keeps starving our people, disregards the country’s constitution, is rife with corruption, deploys cadres, and is controlled by crooks with loose ends who want to ensure that our people suffer and that investors lose faith in our economy. The UDM urges all South Africans to unite against the ANC in next year’s ballot.