South African Post Office business rescue has cost taxpayers R321 million

The South African Post Office (SAPO) has spent R321.18 million on its business rescue practitioners since it began the insolvency proceedings in July 2023.

Communications Minister Solly Malatsi revealed the figure in an answer to Parliamentary questions at the end of May, which included the detail that more than R13.722 million was spent on practitioner fees.

The minister said that the cost for support staff in the business rescue process was the largest amount — R237.54 million in the last three years, excluding VAT.

“The implementation of the business rescue plan would have been practically impossible for the two BRPs to execute alone,” Malatsi explained.

“This necessitated the acquisition of the required resources by the BRPs to ensure both the effective implementation of the business rescue plan and the continuation of operations.”

In July 2023, Anoosh Rooplal and Juanito Damons were appointed to be the practitioners to lead the embattled state agency out of financial distress and collapse.

Both are senior corporate restructuring professionals with decades of experience managing the restructuring or liquidation of large state-owned enterprises and corporations.

Rooplal is a chartered accountant and the national head of Corporate Finance and Restructuring at SNG Grant Thornton, one of South Africa’s largest professional services networks.

Prior to SAPO, Rooplal was involved in the curatorship of VBS Mutual Bank following its highly publicised fraud scandal. Rooplal was appointed to be the bank’s liquidator.

Meanwhile, Damons is an experienced practising attorney and the Director of Damons Attorneys in Pretoria. He is specialised in business rescue proceedings and liquidations.

Aside from the two practitioners leading the business rescue plan, Malatsi revealed that the business rescue process led to the hiring of staff.

“These included, but were not limited to, tax, labour, legal, financial, operational, restructuring and actuarial experts,” he said.

“These resources were organised into various workstreams to support and enable key operational functions of the business.”

R237.54 million to hire business rescue support staff

Malatsi said that the support staff supplemented existing skills shortages and strengthened critical areas of the operations. Additional consultants would be brought on as and when required.

These included experts such as labour law firms, as well as civil and criminal attorneys appointed to assist with the management and facilitation of CCMA referrals.

Since the proceedings began, SAPO has faced ongoing legal issues at the Labour Court, which necessitated experts in dealing with the matters, he said.

Other skills brought on by the post office during the process included human resources, legal, finance, stakeholder management, operations, and sales management.

Risk management experts, retrenchment processes, business rescue oversight and creditors’ compromises were also onboarded.

Across the three financial years since business rescue began, it has cost the South African taxpayer R321.18 million.

The total for disbursements for the three years was R28.01 million. Of the three years, the 2024/25 financial year was the most costly, at R142.48 million.

This large increase in costs compared to the 2023/24 financial year was primarily driven by support staff costs, which rose by R42.88 million to R107 million.

The annual business rescue costs were lowest during the Post Office’s previous financial year. Malatsi revealed that it had spent R82.55 in the 2025/26 financial year on business rescue–related costs.

In March, the practitioners told Parliament that the SAPO would require an allocation of R350 million to maintain its current operations and avoid liquidation.

The entity was to receive R595 million from the government to fulfil its universal service obligation and maintain services in rural and underserved areas.

However, Rooplal told Parliament that SAPO would require an additional allocation beyond R595 million if it wanted a chance to execute its approved turnaround plan and exit business rescue.

He said that SAPO would be able to leave business rescue within three to six years of the plan’s implementation, provided it was adequately funded.

“The Post Office will ideally be transformed into a strategic government infrastructure asset that is financially stable, operationally efficient, and fit for purpose,” the BRPs said previously.

Part of the turnaround plan included potentially forming strategic partnerships with private partners and a grander digital transformation of the Post Office.

Post Office business rescue cost since 2023

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