Shameful neglect of La Mercy post boxes

La Mercy’s post boxes are in a state of complete collapse.

While residents still using the boxes dutifully pay their fees, their post is left to the mercy of the elements.

When the Courier visited earlier this week, the entire back section of the boxes was left open, with private post available to anyone who passed by.

“We’ve had a box here for 40 years. The neglect started around 15 years ago and it became really bad within the last five,” said La Mercy resident, Jane Naidoo.

“We cannot receive post any other way and now all of our letters get wet if we do not pick them up fast enough.”

At a glance, the Courier found tax letters, bank statements, subscriptions, insurance documents and other correspondence that carried personal information.

Some letters dated back as far as 2020 and indicate post box owners had sought other communication methods.

“We still pay every year and will continue using it as we need to,” said Naidoo.

The current fees to keep a post box are R670 per year, according to the South African Post Office (SAPO) website.

Naidoo said she had reached out to the SAPO but they said there was nothing they could do.

The SA Post Office is currently in business rescue and has long been in a state of financial decline.

According to the business rescue plan published last year, the SAPO had lost around R19-billion by the end of September and declared losses for 16 consecutive years.

This matches the timeline for when maintenance of the La Mercy post boxes started to fail.

The Post Office is currently seeking a further R3.8-billion in government bail out funds and plans to greatly cut down operations, closing 600 post offices and cutting 6 000 jobs.

What this means for individual post boxes like at La Mercy remains to be seen.

The SAPO did not respond to a request for comment.

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