EDITOR – IN regards to your report in last week’s Highway Mail, the assertion by the post office spokesperson that customers were advised beforehand of the closure of the Gillitts Post Office is utterly incorrect.
I have had a box office at Gillitts for a period of about 46 years and renewed the annual charge late in December. At no time has there been any notice, verbal or written, of any intention to change the facilities.
ALSO READ: Gillitts post office shuts its doors, merges with Hillcrest
Being over 80 years old, and due to the Covid situation, I have been careful, wherever possible, to avoid or minimise contact with people outside my home so it was only in mid-February when I went to see what mail had collected that I found, quite unexpectedly, the structure being stripped.
No staff were in attendance so I have no idea if my post box is still functioning with its earlier number, if the keys my wife and I have still fit, where in the Hillcrest post office they are placed and what has happened to any mail in the box at the time of it being stripped from Gillitts.
Due to my age, and the risk of contracting the virus from the crowds there, I am now loathe to make any direct visit to Hillcrest and risk the need for extended queuing, coupled with the physical risk of attack or theft from the many unemployed hanging around apparently looking for work.
The service offered has, as far as I am concerned, been non-existent and the treatment received by customers totally inexcusable.
Disgusted Customer
Gillitts
Post Office response:
Post Office spokesperson, Nobuhle Njapha said all the Box Holder’s clients were informed individually in a form of letters that were distributed into their post boxes. “Notices were displayed at the entrance of the Post office, by the box loggia as well as inside by the branch on the Public side. Our customers were advised of the nearest branches where they could get serviced from i.e. Hillcrest (for all services and relocation of Post boxes) and Kloof for our customers who preferred to use Kloof.”
She added that they have also communicated on different media platforms of the alternative office.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
