Latest news with #SAPO
Eyewitness News
28-05-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Business rescue practitioners tell MPs they've turned SAPO around
CAPE TOWN - The South African Post Office's business rescue practitioners say they've managed to turn around the ailing entity. The team of rescue practitioners is now preparing to exit the business rescue process and hand control of the entity back to management after almost three years. The rescue team briefed Parliament's communications and digital technologies committee on the finalisation of the rescue process, which saw over 4,000 retrenchments and the closure of hundreds of branches. The business rescue practitioners have previously come under fire from the committee, which said that progress was not evident over the last two years. The practitioners were also criticised in April for failing to provide the committee with an update in over four months. But on Wednesday, Fathima Gany, SAPO acting group CEO, presented a positive outlook, saying that they were in the best shape since 2012. "This resulted in the strengthening of the balance sheet and a positive net asset value of R1 billion at the end of March. This was the first time since 2012 that SAPO had a positive net asset value, so you see the benefits that you gain from a business rescue process." In terms of the status of the business rescue exit process, the team said they were in discussions with the department and were preparing a court application to terminate the business rescue proceedings.
IOL News
28-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Business rescue practitioners prepare to file court papers to exit Post Office
Business rescue practitioners say they have informed the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies of the pending court application to terminate the business rescue at the South African Post Office. Image: Independent Newspapers Archives The business rescue practitioners are preparing to file papers with the High Court as part of the exit strategy from the South African Post Office (SAPO). This was revealed by co-business rescue practitioner Anoosh Roopal, along with his co-business rescue practitioner Juanito Damons, who briefed the Communications and Digital Technologies Portfolio Committee on Wednesday. 'We are in discussions with the department around the business rescue having to end and business rescue practitioners having to leave,' Roopal said. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ SAPO was placed under provisional liquidation in February 2023 and later on business rescue in July 2023 after the board of directors was dismissed two months earlier. Upon their appointment, Roopal and Damons developed a business rescue plan that was approved by the creditors and then assumed management control of the business. Roopal said they were now in discussions with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies and preparing a court application to terminate the business rescue process. This takes place as the financial plan to ensure SAPO remained a going concern was being finalised amid moves to secure payment of R509 million of statutory and payroll creditors owed to the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and medical aid schemes. 'Despite the R3.8 billion not being provided, the business rescue practitioners and the department are in discussions to develop an alternative plan to pay the remaining 18-cent creditors,' he said. Damons told the committee that they had already consulted their attorneys about the pending application, and the department was aware that they were preparing an application. 'We will ask the court to terminate the business rescue, and we would also ask for consent so that Anoosh and I can file with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission a notice of substantial implementation.' Damons said the application comes at a good time, as there was a specialised court in Gauteng that dealt with insolvency and business restructuring. 'To get to that court, it will take us about three to four weeks if we go on a semi-urgent basis, for example,' he said. Court papers will be drafted next week, and engagements with the department and the unions will take place to make sure all are on the same wavelength. Damons said that when a business enters business rescue, it has to show that the company does not have the financial ability to cover its operational expenses when they become due and payable. 'At SAPO, at least that does not give us sleepless nights, we have enough funding from June and the ensuing six months. SAPO will be able to pay its operational expenses next six months.' Roopal said SAPO now has a turnaround strategy in line with its fulfillment of the strategic objectives at the entity. 'What we did was the turnaround strategy. We are quite comfortable that the Post Office has been equipped with a strategy that is viable. All of this depends on funding,' he told the committee. He also said they were looking together with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies to find an alternative to pay about R509m owed to statutory bodies such as SARS and medical aids. 'That will discharge the rescue plan and hand over the business back to the shareholder,' said Roopal. Damons said the department has asked them to negotiate with the creditors owed R509m in statutory and payroll deductions. 'We started talking to these creditors about possible deferment of payment. The department asked us to have a discussion around deferring these payments until 31 March 2026. We reached out, and we have not finalised anything.' However, Damons said there was a lot of work left in terms of the exit strategy. 'We don't want to be irresponsible by leaving SAPO and finding they are back in this situation, and there is another application looming. 'Exiting business rescue would mean giving up the moratorium that is in place that protects SAPO from any legal proceedings; to start proceedings must get consent of business practitioners before approaching the court.'
The South African
25-05-2025
- Business
- The South African
2025 SASSA social grant review underway
The 2025 SASSA social grant system has been in a state of flux all year. First, we had the Finance Minister missing the February budget deadline. And this led to a delay in announcement of 2025 SASSA social grant increases. At the same time, you had the department wrestling with a High Court Ruling to review the 2025 SASSA social grant system for SRD clients. And the on-going Postbank Black Card debacle that was never fully resolved, after causing untold misery for the elderly and disabled … No group suffered more than elderly grant recipients during the Postbank Gold-to-Black Card farce. Image: File Now, however, the South African Social Security Agency has begun a review of the 2025 SASSA social grant payment system. The goal herein is to fix long-running problems. 'Core' SASSA grants are disbursed to more than 28-million beneficiaries every month. Specifically, the 2025 SASSA social grant review will re-examine the Master and Service Level Agreements between SASSA, the SA Post Office (SAPO) and Postbank. Since 2018, this agreement has guided SASSA grant payments. However, it is abundantly clear that after SAPO's financial collapse, and Postbank took over in 2022, their problems have only worsened. SAPO-POSTBANK COLLAPSE Any SASSA client who hadn't opted to be paid into a conventional bank account, soon changed their payment option after the Postbank card debacle. Image: File Better still, the project is being headed up by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), rather than SASSA. The department head says the 2025 SASSA social grant review will be completed before the year is through. In turn, the department will examine what caused the breakdown between SASSA and Postbank. And it will suggest ways to make the SASSA grant payment system better. Recurring problems, such as 'network challenges' and 'system glitches' are often attributed to the failures. However, the 2025 SASSA social grant review goes further. It will look at Postbank's failure to provide access to chairs, water, and toilets to beneficiaries waiting in queues at branches. As such, the review wants to hear the viewpoints of affected beneficiaries themselves. And civil society groups had until Friday (23 May 2025) to comment and nominate representatives for the project's steering committee. In time, the goal is for an improvement plan to be tabled, and a progress report produced every six months for the next two years. Civil advocacy groups have welcomed the review into 2025 SASSA social grant payments. They're happy that problems between SASSA and Postbank are 'finally being acknowledged.' DO YOU THINK SASSA SHOULD FORMALLY CUT TIES WITH POSTBANK? Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
LBCI
23-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Sweden lowers national threat level
Sweden's security service said on Friday it had lowered the national threat assessment by one notch to "elevated" from "high", citing a gradual change in the overall situation. "The threat of attacks from violent extremism has been reduced for some time," Sweden's SAPO security police said in a statement. SAPO had raised the threat level to "high", the second highest level, in 2023 after Koran burnings by individuals in Sweden outraged Muslims in several countries and triggered jihadist threats. Reuters
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sweden lowers terrorist threat assessment back to level before 2023 Koran burnings
By Simon Johnson and Johan Ahlander STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Sweden's SAPO security service lowered its national terrorist threat warning on Friday back to the "elevated" level assessed before 2023, when it was raised in the wake of a spate of Koran burnings. SAPO had raised the threat level to "high", the second highest level, after several high profile cases in which anti-Islam activists based in Sweden burned copies of the holy book, outraging Muslims in several countries. SAPO said that after a period during which Sweden was singled out as a specific target in militant propaganda, it was now increasingly being treated as a part of the West more generally. "Sweden has gone from being a priority target to a legitimate target for violent Islamism globally," SAPO head Charlotte von Essen told a news conference. "The threat of attacks from violent extremism, in the traditional sense, is not as high as before." She stressed that Sweden was not immune and that attacks could always happen regardless of the terror level assessment. The Koran burnings in 2023 prompted angry protesters to storm and vandalise Sweden's embassy in Baghdad and drew calls to violence from militant groups such as Hezbollah, al Shabaab and al Qaeda. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also urged severe punishment for those responsible and said Sweden was in battle mode against the Muslim world. Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee behind most Koran burnings in Sweden in recent years, was shot dead in January, a murder that is still unsolved but believed by police to be connected to his anti-Islam activities. SAPO also said threats to Jews and Israeli targets in Sweden had increased since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas-led fighters, which triggered the war in Gaza.
