SAPO strike affects all residents

Although the South African Post Office strike continues, residents are still expected to pay their municipal accounts despite not receiving their bills.
According to the spokesperson for the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM), Themba Gadebe, residents who skip payment or pay late will incur arrears on their accounts.
“We are aware of the effects of the strike by post office workers. However, it was in view of circumstances like these, among others, that the municipality introduced numerous options which serve to make accessibility of statements and payments easy. The non-receipt of a statement does not exempt any person from the liability to pay such an account,” Gadebe said.
He encourages residents to pay similar amounts to the previous month’s statements should they not have received their current statements.
The Nigel post office branch is still operational and open during working hours assisting residents with the payments of their accounts.
According to Nigel resident Anet Erasmus, the challenge is that she has become accustomed to receiving her billing statements in the post and then set out to the Nigel post office to settle her accounts knowing the exact outstanding figure.
“I haven’t received statements for over two months now and I have no clarity on how much I have to pay each month. This can cause challenging circumstances should any service provider decide to cut their service due to inaccurate estimation caused by the strike”, Anet added.
Gadebe said residents who are not receiving their statements via e-mail, or summary statements by SMS, are encouraged to visit their customer care centres to update their contact details.
For more information regarding account payment enquiries, email accountenquiries@ekurhuleni.gov.za or phone the regional customer care line on 011 869 2137.