Post Bank users, including pensioners, await payments for 2 months

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Some extended Public Works Programme workers and pensioners using Post Bank have not been paid for two months at the Bizana Post office, in the Eastern Cape. Elderly people, mainly women, have been sleeping in queues for three nights.

Staff shortage was cited as the main reason for the payment delays. Residents Mayokazi Siyu and Nophumzile Luleko are some of the people who have been camping outside the post office for a few nights, ensuring they don’t lose their spot in the queue. They are not happy about the service they get at the post office.

“It’s a second day now, I have been sleeping here. I am not sure about my kids back home. When I left they had nothing to eat. I myself had to borrow money from neighbours, I really do not know what will happen. The situation is bad, we are dying here in the queue because we were not paid. We were told there is no money,” says Siyu.

“I do not have a husband, I have two kids. I am only dependent on this money we are supposed to be getting from Public Works. My children are hungry back home. I have been sleeping here and I do not have hope for any solution,” says Luleko.

DA Councillor at Winnie Madikizela Mandela Local Municipality, Bubele Mangqalaza has raised concerns about the situation at the post office.

“People have been camping outside the Mbizana Post Office for the past three days. Some have been sleeping on the pavement for three days. Old-aged pensions are not being paid at all. The Post bank receivers cannot be helped at all. It’s a pandemonium at this Post Office. The post office was broken into, the safes were broken into, walls were broken, doors could not lock even the ceiling was broken. The Post Office workers are not safe at all to keep a large amount of money,” says Mangqalaza.

Meanwhile, the Post Office says the delays in payments are a result of criminal activities in the region.

The recent robbery of the Redoubt Post Office resulted in an influx at the Bizana Post office, as Post Bank representative in the Eastern Cape Nombulelo Ngubane explains, “Due to the unplanned volumes, the cash in Bizana keeps running out and the banks and CIT companies are unable to supplement the cash at short notice.  The SAPO branch and Postbank are working together to find a solution but also the Municipality is assisting with security and shelter. We are assured cash delivery on Monday but still battling to get a commitment tomorrow,” says Ngubane.