The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape is calling on the premier, Dr Zamani Saul, to urgently take up the declining state of the post office in Upington with Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams.
This comes amidst increasing community dissatisfaction regarding snaking queues and a lack of operational tellers, that are hampering the renewal of motor vehicle licenses, as well as the payment of the R350 Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant.
People are standing in lines that are kilometres long. While the post office only allows a certain number of people inside the building at any given time, there are no social distancing measures in place outside, as people stand in close proximity for hours, as they wait to be served.
The number of open tellers is questionable, as is why people who are renewing their licenses, have to pay an additional R72 service fee, for every single license that they renew. The DA smells a rat.
The management of post offices is clearly on the decline. Just last week, it was reported that the Hopetown post office was closed because the rent for the building had not been paid.
What is happening in post offices, is clearly the effects of yet another decaying state-owned entity.
This increasingly unpleasant state of the post office, however, cannot be left unattended. Aside from grant payments and license renewals, people also rely on the post office for the delivery of parcels and mail.
The DA is appealing to Dr Saul to stand up for the residents of Upington by red flagging the post office in Dawid Kruiper with Minister Abrahams and pushing for an intervention. This must include ensuring that an adequate number of staff members are on duty, at any given time, to speed up services. He must also ask Abrahams to institute an investigation into the collection of a service fee for the renewal of vehicles licenses, by post office staff.
The people of Upington deserve much better and the post office urgently needs to up its game if it wishes to remain relevant in these changing times.