Johannesburg - Whether you want to pick up a parcel, renew your car licence disc or withdraw the R350 Covid-19 relief money, going to the post office means being stuck in a snaking queue.
Since the beginning of the lockdown, going to the facility has become a dreaded errand because of the long queues. Every month, hundreds of people stand in queues to withdraw the R350 Covid-19 relief funds from the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) at the post office.
Thomas Mokwatlo, acting GE: operations for the SA Post Office (Sapo), conceded that the Covid-19 crisis has affected their work.
“The compliance with the Covid-19 regulations has had a material impact on our branches' normal flow of processes.
"Branches are allowed to have a limited number of staff so as to practice distancing as well as accept a limited number of people inside a branch at any given time.
"This is in addition to ensuring that people accessing our premises are sanitised on entry, their details are recorded for contact tracing
“Inevitably, all these ‘new normal’ processes result in longer queueing time.
"The SA Post Office is working together with Sassa and all stakeholders to devise measures within the grants payments value chain that are aimed at reducing the number of people going to branches to access their grants at any given time."
Now Sassa wants to make things easier for those who receive grants; Monday to Sunday beneficiaries can change from receiving their grants at a post office to receiving them through their personal bank accounts.
Beneficiaries need to ensure that the bank accounts are in their names.
Sassa chief executive Totsie Memela said: “This development is an effort to address challenges that some beneficiaries have experienced in trying to access their special relief grant from the post offices.
"It is important for beneficiaries to understand that they should not go to the post office before they have received the SMS notification that says funds are available. The SMS notification is used to limit the numbers of people reporting to a post office on a particular day and also to ensure that sufficient cash is available.
“The payment of the Covid-19 grant is quicker if paid into a bank account. Applicants without bank accounts are thus encouraged to open a bank account. There are many entry-level, inexpensive options on the market, some of which can be opened online.”
The Post Office also has a backlog in moving international mail, but Mokwatlo said they were working on clearing backlogs.
“Sapo has moved its international mail backlog from about 2.9million items prior to the lockdown to 1.7million items that we aim to clear by the end of September, given that we are now operating with a 100% staff complement and redirecting most of the backlogged items to other mail centres to fast-track processing.”
The Star