Christopher Berman is among hundreds of desperate individuals who are at their wits’ end about the service received from the Alberton Post Office regarding the Covid-19 grant of R350.
The Florentia resident shares his sentiments with many other beneficiaries of the South African Social Security Agency social relief of distress grant.
The post office is reported to not assist the unemployed group but rather leaves them queuing outside for hours on end without being attended to.
“What they do is take a lot of identity documents at once, processing them while we wait outside the whole day just so they can tell us the system is offline. I have already received R700 in total and outstanding another R700 and one declined IRP5, of which I am not employed and not receiving any money,” said Berman.
The 31-year-old said he was mostly concerned about the elderly and frail, including those who came with their children in the blazing heat hoping to be assisted.
“We have to stand here the whole day and parents come here with their children. I need this money to cover my expenses, it is all I have at the moment. I wake up early to be here and it is after they have closed this place that I normally leave,” he said.
He said this was beyond frustrating for them and many others who spent money to get to the post office for collection and would not have money to return.
Joyce Pieterse (59) reiterated they were neglected and that the post office staff was not being helpful.
“They don’t come and tell us whether they would help us or not, they let us wait for five to seven hours and later tell us they would not assist us. When you go home after receiving this R350, you will still need to pay the people who lent you a taxi fare. People with cars would come here and offer to take you from this post office to another only to charge you R40,” she said.
Pieterse also suggested the government should work hand-in-hand with retail companies in issuing pay-outs in order to avoid backlogs.
The RECORD has contacted Alberton Post Office and an update will be published once the comment has been received.
