PRETORIA, Gauteng – Former employees of the South African Post Office gathered outside the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies today, demanding payment of outstanding pensions and benefits linked to retrenchments and voluntary severance packages.
The protesters, who were picketing during the afternoon, say they have been owed money dating from 2020 to 2024. While the Post Office is currently under business rescue—with R2.4 billion allocated to stabilize the entity—workers claim they never received the full amounts promised when they exited the organization.
Jackie, a spokesperson for the group of former employees, stated that the workers are demanding their outstanding balances, which in some cases exceed R100,000 depending on individual salaries and years of service. She noted that some demonstrators served the Post Office for up to 30 years.
“We are demanding our outstanding balance of which we are owed by the Post Office from 2020 until 2024,” Jackie said. “We tried to engage the PRP office and the minister, who told us that immediately they receive funds from the treasury they will pay us the outstanding balance. But they agreed with the union they will pay us only 18 cents [partial payment], which we didn’t agree to.”
Jackie emphasized that the affected workers were not party to the agreement reached between the department and unions because many had already been retrenched or had accepted Voluntary Severance Packages (VSSP) at the time. “We were not part of their agreement,” she said. “What we want is the money that they were owing us.”
Beyond immediate payment, the group is also requesting detailed statements showing how their severance or pension amounts were calculated. “We don’t even have statements to show that we got this much money, you are left with this much money,” Jackie explained. “All we want is our money and our statements so we know how much we are getting.”
The protesters are calling for broader government intervention and have specifically requested that the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) examine operations at the Post Office. “We demand the SIU must come to Post Office and see what is happening because there’s a lot of corruption,” Jackie said, adding that the retrenchment and VSSP processes were not conducted fairly.
The group also expressed a willingness to brief Mr. Mkhwanazi directly on the issues they face. “We are requesting you to also intervene on the issue of Post Office,” Jackie stated. “We are willing to inform you and tell you what is happening.”
The demonstration marks another chapter in the ongoing challenges facing the state-owned enterprise, as former staff continue to seek resolution on benefits they say were promised but never fully delivered. The workers indicated they would submit a memorandum to the department and seek support from other stakeholders if their demands are not addressed.
