Vosloorus Post Office extends lease for three years

The Vosloorus Post Office at Gold Spot Shopping Centre has resumed services to the public since April 5.

Residents can now access the facility to make use of its services.

This follows the Post Office paying off its outstanding rentals and renewed its lease agreement for the next three years.

The landlord of Gold Spot Shopping Centre, Johnny Luiz, said the past few months have been hard but he is now happy that the Post Office came to the table and they are now communicating with him.

“I have been in this community for many years. It was very heartbreaking to watch people come here only for them to return home unsatisfied because they couldn’t utilise services at the Post Office. “I tried to assist the Post Office, but my hands could only stretch to this point. I am glad that the matter is now laid to rest,” he added.

“For now, we can only hope for the best-working relationship going forward. We thank NAFCOC and Kathorus MAIL for their efforts in helping not only us but also the community at large,” said Luiz.

When Kathorus MAIL visited the facility on April 9, it found that the Post Office was operating back to normal. The electricity was restored and customers were already in the queue, seeking services.

NAFCOC chairperson George Ratswana and secretary Carol Kobe said they were pleased that the matter had been resolved, adding that this would contribute to the local business sector.

We engaged with some of the residents to share their views on the restoration of services.

A Vosloorus resident, Martel Monguni, said it is great to know that services have been restored as she wanted to renew her licence disk. She said her children also use the Post Office to certify documents.

Mpho Lebuso added the Post Office is of great value for many people in the community because everyone uses it for different reasons.

“There are people who do not use public transport, they use the Post Office to renew their licence disks. Most of them were affected by this. We are happy that the services have been restored,” said Lebuso.

The communications manager of SA Post Office, Johan Kruger, confirmed that all rental arrears had been paid.

“The Post Office is grateful to announce that we have agreed with the landlord from whom we rent the Vosloorus Post Office. Unfortunately, other details are confidential and we are not at liberty to disclose them,” he said.

“The Post Office proposed to the landlord that we enter into a lease agreement for the Vosloorus Post Office for the next three years,” said Kruger.

He said they will formalise the agreement when the landlord responds.

Background story

The Post Office suspended services on January 9 when Luiz disconnected the electrical power to the building.

The power cut was due to non-payment of rentals, electricity and other utilities for five months.

The services were temporarily restored to cater for pensioners for the Sassa grant payout on February 3 when NAFCOC intervened.

They suspended services again on March 7 after engagements between them and the landlord did not yield results.

According to Kruger, the lockdown period affected the revenue of the entity.

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