Minister announces resignation of Post Office board

© Ferli Achirulli – 123RF.com

According to the minister, the board members volunteered to resign and he had accepted their resignations.

"The board has agreed to avail themselves whenever they are needed to assist," Minister Cwele said, addressing media in Pretoria.

He said the protracted strike by Post Office workers had caused a lot of harm.

"The unprotected and violent strike at the Post Office has caused a lot of harm to citizens, long-distance students, businesses especially the small and medium-sized ones, the diplomatic community and most of all the workers of the Post Office and the company itself," Minister Cwele said.

Former Rand Water CEO Simo Lushaba has been appointed to lead a team to restore normalcy at the Post Office.

The minister said the team would have three months to turn things around and ensure workers reported for duty.

The team also had to assess management capacity and fill all vacant positions.

With regard to allegations that the Post Office was running out of money, Minister Cwele said it was not broke but experiencing cashflow problems.

He emphasised that the issues at the Post Office did not start with the board.

Minister Cwele said the majority of workers were prepared to go back to work.