Durban - POST offices are starting to disappear around the Durban area, as the South African Post Office (Sapo) continues to shut branches to cut costs.
At least two branches, at Dalbridge and on the Bluff, have closed down abruptly - with more to follow in coming days.
According to Nobuhle Njapha, Sapo provincial spokesperson, the branches are not being closed down but are being amalgamated, with the Berea and Musgrave branches being merged into the nearby Bishopsgate offices.
The Mayville and Dalbridge branches will be merged with the Durban Central offices.
“This option is only considered in the case of urban post offices, where consumer behaviour indicates that customers favour a specific branch, and where branches are within 5km of each other,” said Njapha.
“This is done to minimise the potential inconvenience to long-standing customers used to a specific branch,” she said.
Njapha did not give a list of all the affected branches but said no rural post offices were going to be merged.
According to Sapo’s corporate plan for 2018/19 - 2020/21, Sapo last made a profit in 2006 and was being kept afloat by government subsidies.
In this year’s Budget Review, the national Treasury allocated R1.9bn to Sapo to help with its growing debt. Despite this, Njapha said, Sapo was in good financial health.
“But it’s rebalancing its network of outlets to changing consumer patterns,” she said.
Last month, The Mercury reported that a lot of Bluff residents were left stranded and confused when they found their local post office shut.
“In the case of the Bluff post office, the lease could not be renewed as the property owner required six months’ rental in advance.”
Nolucky Nxasana, who has been using Dalbridge post office box for years, said she showed up last week and found the offices closed.
“They told me my box had been moved permanently to the Durban branch.
“When I got there, I couldn’t access my box because they were still busy sorting all of them out,” she said.
Nxasana said she paid R450 a year for her post box and did not get a notification that it was moved.
Arthur Goldstuck, an information and communications technology expert, said the demise of post offices was inevitable.
“Without the post offices embracing digital solutions, and becoming trust and verification centres, their role will continue to diminish.
“Government does have a responsibility to keep offices in under-serviced areas, as a high proportion of the population still doesn’t have internet access,” he said.
Johan Kruger, Sapo’s media communication liaison, said they were working on creating a countrywide database of all post offices that would be merged and it would soon be made public.
Kruger said the process of merging branches had not resulted in any job losses, as the staff from the closed branches were all absorbed.