Living in hope

IT’S a never-ending saga – the sorry tale of the South African Post Office. Those who use the service of this institution still do not know what its true state of affairs is.

On September 7, it promised members of Parliament’s telecommunications and postal services committee that there wouldn’t be any black Christmas for its millions of customers.

Board chairman Simo Lushaba and acting chief executive Mlu Mathonsi said things were getting better and mail would continue to be delivered despite their facing a cash crisis of billions of rands.

The promise of an incident-free delivery of Christmas mail has certainly raised hopes.

Last year the post office went through a bruising four-month strike over a labour dispute that paralysed mail delivery and other operations, with the backlog of mail deliveries extending well into this year.

Last month the post office publicly said: “The SA Post Office is pleased to inform its customers that its mail conveyance delays have been resolved. Full conveyancing capacity will be restored as of 15th August 2015.”

But don’t hold your breath. The South African Post Office has now asked for almost R500 million from the Treasury to pay its creditors in the current financial year.

One lives in hope for that Christmas card.