As the various government departments mainly run by the ANC controlled government are failing one after the other, local residents are once more complaining about the poor state of the Laudium Post Office on Tangerine Street in the Laudium CBD.
Several business owners in the Laudium CBD have once again complained to the Laudium Sun about the poor and filthy condition of the postbox area, which is situated behind the Post Office, with the entrance from 11th Avenue, saying that the area has poor lighting, most of the time, is filthy, occupied by homeless people at night and often leaks water, adding that there seems to be no caretaker nor cleaner taking care of the premises.
Shahjaib Arif, a business owner from Tangerine Street, told the Laudium Sun, “My business is in the same building as the Laudium Post Office. The area of the postboxes, which is behind the Post Office is really in a bad state and it is very scary to even just go in there. The condition is really terrible and the Post Office has no one taking care of the place. The area of the postboxes remains open all the time, resulting in many homeless people sleeping there at night, making it a no go area. The place stinks and even though people complain a lot about the back area of the Post Office, nothing is done about it.”
Mohammad Taooiab, business owner from ‘A cellular’ in the same building as the Post
Office, told the Laudium Sun, “Indeed, the back part of the Laudium Post Office, where the postboxes are, must be closed because a lot of suspicious activity takes place there in the evening. The place stinks a lot and there is no caretaker looking after that place.”
Another business owner, Farook Ghia, of ‘Laudium Phone Repairs’ on Tangerine Street, told the Laudium Sun, “There is a lot of filth at the back part of the Laudium Post Office. The place where the postboxes are, is supposed to be an area where people can get free and easy access to their private postboxes, but that is not the case anymore. I think that is why many people are no longer even using these postboxes, because the place looks really disgusting and is unsafe.”
Ebrahim Wale, the security guard posted at the front part of the Laudium Post Office, on Tangerine Street, told the Laudium Sun, “I was just recently placed here at this site as a security guard, thus I am not aware of the situation very well. I believe that the back part of the Post Office was in a bad condition even before I came here and the place still looks the same, filthy. I cannot comment much about this situation as it is not part of my job. I am just a security guard and not the caretaker here. The ideal person to contact is the caretaker, but according to my knowledge, there is no caretaker for this building, so I am not sure who will be the right person to talk to.”
Reuben Moata, acting manager of the Laudium Post Office, told the Laudium Sun, “I don’t have any idea about the place at the back where the postboxes are, as I work in the front and I don’t interfere with the back part. The condition of the building is not our responsibility.”
When the Laudium Sun asked Rueben whether it was not the responsibility of the Post Office to ensure that the private postbox area was safe and clean for their customers to use, he refused to comment further.