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The DA calls on the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Siyabonga Cwele, to table a plan to stop disruption and violent protest action in the South African postal services industry once and for all.

This follows reports that postal services and deliveries have come to a halt in Gauteng from Germiston through to Bronkhorstspruit and Lyttleton in Tshwane. The DA is concerned that further, unreported industrial action is taking place at the South African Post Office (SAPO) in Gauteng.

These reports indicate that contract workers who have embarked on an unprotected strike are behaving in a manner that ranges from intimidation to closing down facilities, including at the Mail Centre in Tshwane, where the tactics and behaviour of striking employees is far beyond acceptable strike protocol.

This latest unrest comes after a number of strikes, legal and illegal, at depots across the country over the last few years.  The DA has established that since January 2014, there were five instances of industrial action, only one of which was protected.

A recent reply to a DA parliamentary question revealed that approximately 78 690 man hours were lost with an estimated direct cost of loss of labour and damages to property of R 5,025,760. Lost revenue totalled R71 million.

Labour tensions remain unresolved, specifically around the issue of contract workers, even after settlement was reached in February this year after protracted negotiations and mediation between SAPO management, the Unions and the workers.

Notwithstanding assurance from the SAPO that a Disaster Recovery and Contingency Plan is in place to to ensure adequate service levels to customers are maintained at acceptable levels, this is clearly not the case. Postal services continue to be disrupted and negatively impact the lives of many ordinary South Africans for whom the SAPO plays a critical role.

Citizens, many of whom are elderly people that rely on the SA Post Office for the delivery of mail including monthly accounts payable, are finding themselves in a position where their credit records are being affected due to non-payment as no bills are being received.

As such the DA calls on the Minister Cwele to intervene immediately and take the following steps:
   
Take action to bring an end to any illegal activity that can cause damage to property or injury to personnel; and
Immediately implement the SAPO Disaster Recovery and Contingency Plan in order to restore service levels to customers in Gauteng.
   
Many South Africans rely on the SA Post Office to conduct their day-to-day business.

The DA urges Minister Cwele to address this matter urgently with transparency and accountability so that Parliament can assist to make sure these strikes do not become the norm.

Issued by the DA