Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi says liquidation of the South African Post Office is something his department is working to avoid.

Malatsi was speaking on the sidelines of the official opening of the Liquid G Experience Centre led by Google in Midrand.

He says the Post Office could survive the next six months, but only if government interventions succeed.

Minister Malatsi says his department is exploring public-private partnerships as a way to strengthen the post office and make it financially stable.

The state-owned entity is on the brink after years of being under business rescue with billions of rands needed to keep the lights on.

Malatsi says they are working to unlock funding as financial pressures from the SABC, Sentech and other entities mount on his department.

“We have to look at a balanced approach of responsible use of, you know, the public parce and addressing roles. But as things stand, there is, you know, consensus with the business rescue practitioners and the Department of Communications and Technologies that we should circumvent liquidation. Because we also know that we want a solution that can avoid having an adverse or devastating effect on the welfare of employees of the post office. But at the same time, we have been working on. We have been working on a private partnerships proposal. We are continuing to fine-tune that so that we can extract value from that because the future, quite frankly, is through public and private partnerships and repositioning of the post office.”

SA Post Office faces liquidation

The minister made the comments on the sidelines of the official open of the Liquid G Experience Centre led by Google in Midrand. He praised the launch saying it was as an important step towards improving connectivity for small and medium-sized businesses.

“I think most importantly, it showcases the power of how the right policy choices make it conducive for big capital to invest in our country. Because the more you have large-scale investments from big capital, the more you can also maximize support for SMMEs and the level of empowerment that we need for small businesses to access these opportunities. And as a government that is very intentional about attracting digital investment, we know this is where the power of solutions that will close the digital divide line” added the minister.

The event showcased Africa’s first Google Cloud-powered experience centre, designed to help businesses learn and roll out AI and cloud solutions to drive digital growth across the continent.