When will residents receive their post?

Germiston residents are fed up with the lack of postal delivery in the region.

Many have contacted the GCN with their concerns, but there doesn’t seem to be much light at the end of the tunnel.

One resident, who does not wish to be named, said: “I am left with a feeling of utter despair at the lack of service and dedication to providing an infrastructure that actually works in favour of the residents in Germiston, and the whole of South Africa for that matter.

“I live in Albemarle and I have not received any post since March 14, this year.

“My neighbours have also not received any post for about six months.”

She added that her daughter’s Health Professional Council of South Africa membership card is in that lost post, among other things.

“I am so angry and frustrated,” she said.

A Wychwood resident said that she hadn’t received post for a few weeks now and that she tried to contact the Primrose Post Office, where staff didn’t even seem to be aware that there is a problem.

“They gave me another number to call, but it does not get answered,” she added.

Simmerfield resident Ronette Dixon told the GCN that she received an SMS from ABSA, telling her that her and her husband Marius’s credit cards were ready for collection at the post office.

“We did not, however, receive a collection slip, so I went to the post office in Primrose Hill to collect the credit cards,” Dixon said.

“I had the SMS from the bank, as well as a reference number.

“When we arrived at the post office there was no one behind the counter, only a woman sitting and eating at a table.

“Eventually she got up and, without greeting me, asked what I wanted,” Dixon said.

“She then refused to hand over the cards, as we didn’t have a collection slip from the post office.”

Dixon returned to the post office the next day with her son, Duncan (17).

Her husband wrote a letter stating that Dixon could collect his credit cards on his behalf, but the woman still refused.

“The woman was rude to us and my son videoed her rude behaviour,” Dixon said.

“The cards have now been sent back to the bank and destroyed.

“It is such an inconvenience.”

Two Primrose East women told the GCN that they had not received post for four months and one said she believed a whole lot of post had been dumped at Witfield Dam, instead of being delivered.

Johan Kruger, from the communications division at the SA Post Office gave the GCN the following comment:

“A total of 473 casual and part-time employees who embarked on an illegal strike were dismissed on August 19, following their refusal to heed calls to return to their posts.

“The illegal strike was predominantly concentrated in the Tshwane and East Rand areas of the SA Post Office’s operations.

“Currently, elements within the dismissed former employees have embarked in sporadic incidents of intimidation towards the SA Post Office’s current employees, specifically in the Tshwane area, and these incidents are impacting operations negatively.

“We have reinforced our security measures in these affected areas to ensure employee safety and to return operations to full capacity, including the safety of property.

“Customers in the affected areas should expect delays in the delivery of mail and parcels until operations are back to full capacity, and also until the backlog caused by the strike is managed out.”