SA Post Office branches closure will hurt vulnerable

You’d be forgiven for saying good riddance to the news that the South African Post Office (Sapo) will close 130 of its offices.

For far too long, customers have had to deal with poor or non-delivery, inefficiency, an inflated workforce, corruption and mismanagement.

In short, Sapo has lost the trust of the public and finds itself in financial strife. The lack of service is seen as a joke both locally and internationally.

According to the auditor-general’s report for the 2019-20 financial year, Sapo recorded losses of nearly R1.8 billion, with its current liabilities exceeding assets by R1.49 billion.

ALSO READ: SA Post Office to close 130 branches nationwide amid cash crunch

Last month, Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke revealed that the Post Office is commercially insolvent, having squandered the billions in bailouts from government over the past decade.

The Covid-19 pandemic is certainly not helping its cause. Now it is closing “surplus” offices.

According to Sapo chief executive Nomkhita Mona, “the majority of the earmarked offices have already been vacated”.

She told parliament: “Now we are left with 80, those are the ones that we are still looking into closing. I think what is important to note is that sometimes we do have to respect the current contracts that we have with the landlords because if we just step out of it immediately we are then prone to penalties. So we are doing that in a staggered form so the number is 80 to go and the target was 130, so we have to close some of those.”

While Sapo has said the closures shouldn’t affect most rural areas, their decision could severely impact the vulnerable – those who are dependent on collecting their social grants, receiving parcels and applications posted for jobs from Sapo.

We support the intention to cut unnecessary costs, but these decisions must be made with an eye on the vulnerable.

They have no choice but to rely on the Post Office.