AFTER 43 years of renting a post box at the Gillitts office, a Kloof resident said he was shocked and disappointed that they were not notified of its closure.
Rob Johnson said he and his wife were surprised when they went to collect their post only to find that the post office was closed and all the boxes were open.
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Johnson said he resided in the Gillitts area for 25 years before moving to Kloof. “We kept the post box as all our documents had that address and Kloof is just a few minutes away from Gillitts,” he said.
“With the payout of Covid-19 relief grants, post offices are already jam packed, how is closing this post office going to help? It’s just going to make matters worse,” he said.
The concerned resident said now people have to travel to other nearby post offices to access postal services.
“The elderly people were not considered when this decision was made. The R350 recipients sometimes return home empty handed, what will become of them? This is just going to make their situation worse, I really feel for them,” he said.
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Post Office spokesperson Nobuhle Njapha said Gillitts Post Office closed its doors on 9 February and people were notified. She said the SA Post Office started to optimise its branch network.
“As part of this, on 10 February, Gillitts Post Office was merged with Hillcrest Post Office situated just 4 km away.
Njapha stated there are enough tellers at the Hillcrest Post Offices to ensure waiting times for customers are acceptable.
“Where branch amalgamations are considered, the first preference is to consider a nearby post office. Only branches in urban areas are considered for amalgamation. No rural post offices are amalgamated,” she said.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
