Return Mark Barnes to sender

In response to “Time to return Barnes to sender” (Readers’ Views, July 22), I recall that Mark Barnes voluntarily put his retirement on hold and offered to help fix the postal service in South Africa.

He should be commended for this, but I wonder if he realised the mammoth task he was taking on, which has now been complicated by the added responsibility of paying out a huge number of social grants.

However, the writer is correct in saying Mr Barnes has not delivered. A card I posted from South Africa on March 10 reached the recipient in the UK on June 7! Where was it for those three months?

We recently had a strike by Post Office staff, so again no mail.

No wonder people are looking at other ways of communication, and the South African postal service is fast becoming irrelevant.

What a reassuring sight it was on my recent trip to the UK to see the good old-fashioned “postie” striding up the driveway and pushing a handful of letters through the letterbox in the front door!

B Garner, by e-mail