Johannesburg - The SA Post Office’s woes are having a negative effect on thousands of residents, businesses and motorists.
Poor service, long delays in receiving mail and parcels and posted items going missing are taking their toll.
Businessman Bradley Moodie said there were long delays at the SA Post Office Joburg International Mail Centre.
He accused the post office of being “completely dishonest” about the state of affairs there.
“International parcels are taking in excess of two months to arrive as opposed to before, when they took about three weeks. The tracking indicates that the parcels have arrived in the country and then they just sit there for weeks and weeks with no movement.
“This is ruining small businesses and fewer and fewer international suppliers will now ship to South Africa, due to the non-delivery and charge backs they are incurring.”
To make matters worse, the international mail centre was on strike for weeks last month, which was “completely covered up by the SA Post Office”, according to a reliable source at the Durban Mail Hub, who confirmed to Moodie that delivery time was between six and eight weeks, he said.
Moodie said the rate of lost parcels and theft at the Witpos and Germiston hubs was “bordering on epidemic proportions”.
Another concern for Joburg residents is that the delay in delivery of traffic fines leads them to losing the 50 percent discount offered if paid by a certain time.
SA Post Office spokesman Khulani Qoma yesterday denied there had been any disruptions at the Joburg International Mail Centre since the postal strike was resolved in November 2014.
“Service standards at the sorting centre are satisfactory, with the centre receiving more than 220 000 mail items daily last week.”
THE STAR