The residents of Vhembe District in Limpopo have appealed with the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies to ensure that post office outlets within the district render effective services to the people.

The residents made this appeal when they participated in the public hearings that took place today on the South African Post Office Amendment Bill [B11-2023] in Thohoyandou at the Thohoyandou Town Hall.

One of the participants lamented about the lack of amenities such as network signal, ablution facilities and shades to protect the elderly against the sun at a post office branch in Tiyani Village. The committee has acknowledged that such challenges should be addressed working with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies and the management of the South African Post Office.

The Vhembe leg of the public hearings on the Bill is the third, following the Western Cape’s Overberg and the Eastern Cape’s Amatole districts, in line with the approved committee programme. The fourth public hearings will be held tomorrow at the Sam Hlalele Hall in Tembisa, in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, in the Gauteng Province.

The Bill seeks, amongst other things, to amend the South African Post Office SOC Ltd Act, 2011, so as to provide for the revised duties and expand on the mandate of the South African Post Office, as provided for in this Act and in the Postal Services Act, 1998; as well as to provide for the repurposing of the Post Office’s infrastructure so as to provide diversified and expanded services and exploit the infrastructure capacity to extract value and forge partnerships with other stakeholders.

These public hearings are in line with Section 59(1)(a) of the Constitution, which requires the National Assembly (NA) to facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the NA and its committees.

Source: Parliament of South Africa