South Africa’s Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) will give the Post Office R381-million to prevent the loss of about 6 000 jobs.

The UIF will pay the funds over six months through the so-called temporary employer-employee relief scheme, the government said in a statement Monday.

The monthly disbursements will come with “strict governance, auditing, and compliance measures,” Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth said, with the Post Office required to maintain transparent accounting records and implement a detailed turnaround strategy as a condition of the funding.

The Post Office has struggled to pay debts and salaries and went into a local form of bankruptcy protection in 2023 to halt its liquidation and pave the way for a state bailout.

In September, the National Treasury asked the communications ministry for more proof that the Post Office would not be a drain on state finances once it got a bailout before disbursing R3.8-billion in funding, News24 reported at the time.