Crying foul over continuing postal problems

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The Advertiser continues to receive complaint from irate post office customers, with some claiming that they have not received their mail since May this year.

“My post was last delivered end of May. Up to date I have received nothing. In the mail yet to be delivered, are my renewal notices for my car and trailer, causing many headaches for me,” says Dawn Park resident, Rita Swanepoel.

One of the Atlasville residents who have gone without mail for months, Heather Mathews, told the Advertiser that she doesn’t know who to turn to for help, because she approached her local post office and the Benoni depot, but nothing has been done.

“The last time I received my mail was in May. I went to the post office and inquired why am I not receiving my mail, and they said I should go and find out from the Benoni depot. I went there and found thousands of unsorted piles of letters gathering dust,” says Mathews.

Another resident of Atlasville, Istelle de Kok says she has gone more than six weeks without getting mail.

“I have inquired why am I not getting my mail and I was asked to go and collect it myself,” says de Kok.

According to an employee at the affected branch, who wishes to remain anonymous, workers at the depot were recently on strike, creating backlogs and delays in mail delivery services.

The source said that although the strike has been resolved, it will take them a while to ease their workload, unless more people are hired to assist with the workload.

The source also alleged that the Boksburg depot has been understaffed for a long time, and employees have been working without a supervisor and uniforms.

The SA Post Office, however, denied the problem is due to a strike.

Recently, spokesperson for the SA Post Office Malusi Fuphe, told the Advertiser that the delay is as a result of staff shortage on the East Rand in their delivery section.

He even stated that efforts were being made to ensure that the workplace has adequate personnel, and insisted that there was no strike.

He added that following route changes, mail would be delivered daily to customers and the backlog in this workplace should be worked off in two weeks time.

Despite the reassurances of Fuphe, dozens of Boksburg residents claim that they are still experiencing significant delays in mail and parcel delivery.

As a last resort, one angry customer, Allan McLellan, took to one of the complaint sites to express anger and frustration over the South African Post Office’s poor service.

McLellan’s complaint was sent to one of the world’s largest customer service websites (www.hellopeter.com), and the post office responded to her complaint.

Responding to the complaint, the writer apologised for the inconvenience caused and concede that there was an industrial action.

This complaint response letter reads: “Casual employees who work at delivery management had embarked on illegal industrial action in order to lobby for recognition of the new labour union they belong to.

“The industrial action was only limited to certain areas and had little impact on mail delivery. The only affected areas were the East Rand, Soweto and – to a smaller extent – Cape Town.

“Mail operations are normal in all other areas of South Africa, including nearby areas such as the North Rand. Contingency measures have been taken to keep the mail flowing and our colleagues at the mail centre are working around the clock to clear the backlog and we expect the situation to get back to normal in due course.”

Fuphe has this week revealed that the services of some employees on the East Rand were recently terminated for being absent without leave.

The Boksburg depot was also affected.

Fuphe reassures customers that The SA Post Office is now taking steps to ensure that there is adequate supervision and manpower at all facilities.

About the uniform problem, Fuphe says all permanent postmen receive uniforms free of charge, but it may occur that part-time postmen do not have uniforms. – @FanieBoksburg