Cosatu will march in Tshwane streets today due to closures of Post Office branches

Tshwane motorists are urged to find alternative routes as the Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) will march against the closure of South African Post Office branches and retrenchments.

The march will take place on Friday, 5 April.

COSATU TO MARCH AGAINST POST OFFICE RETRENCHMENTS

Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) spokesperson Isaac Mahamba said those participating in the march will gather at 9:00 at the old Putco bus depot in Marabastad. They will then march to the National Treasury of South Africa.

From the gathering point, the marchers will join Struben Street and turn right onto Sophie de Bruyn Street.

They will then turn left at Madiba Street and proceed to the National Treasury at the corner of Madiba and Paul Kruger Street in Pretoria Central.

Mahamba said the marchers are expected to disperse from the National Treasury at 14:00.

SAPS and TMPD officers will be deployed to monitor the march and all the affected streets

THE FOLLOWING STREETS WILL BE AFFECTED:

• Struben Street
• Cowie Street
• Kgosi Mampuru Street
• Sophie de Bruyn Street
• Madiba Street
• Bosman Street
• Paul Kruger Street

MOTORISTS CAN USE THE FOLLOWING ALTERNATIVE ROUTES:

• Es’kia Mphahlele Drive
• Nana Sita Street
• Francis Baard Street
• WF Nkomo Street
• Bloed Street
• Sisulu Street
• Du Toit Street
• Nelson Mandela Drive
• Lillian Ngoyi Street
• Thabo Sehume Street

GOVERNMENT CONFIRMS JOB CUTS

In February 2023, a creditor placed SAPO under provisional liquidation, and its debts stood at some R4 billion at the time. Cabinet approved a voluntary business rescue based on a continuity report.

Earlier this week, BusinessTech reported that 235 post offices are due to close across the country. Most are in the Free State and North West, followed by North Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga.

Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) have already sent retrenchment letters to 4 700 workers.

In an interview with the SABC on Thursday, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Mondli Gungubele defended the decision to retrench workers.

Gungubele said the interventions are to ensure that the Post Office becomes viable even if the number of branches that it’s going to have are those branches that are going to make sure that it stays afloat.

“I cannot give the exact names of the branches because as they (Business Rescue Practitioners) work on these, they keep on finding a particular characteristic as they deal with them,” he said.

ALSO READ: SASSA application 2024: Five things you need