GEORGE NEWS - Rumours that the George Industria Post Office is going to close are not true.

Since 2018, three South African Post Office (Sapo) branches have closed in the main municipal areas in the Garden Route - one in Mossel Bay (Danabaai branch) and two in the George municipal area, namely George East and Garden Route Mall.

Sapo spokesperson Johan Kruger said these closures were due to over-representation in George, but the George Industria branch will remain open.

According to a response from Sapo to questions posed by DA MP Solly Malatsi in Parliament regarding the state of the company, 248 post office branches closed down from January 2018 till the end of February 2022.

Sapo's response to a question from Malatsi regarding incidents of theft that affected the payout of Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant, included a list of cases where staff have been suspended from 2015/2016 to 2020/2021 due to theft, fraud, bribery, gross negligence, mismanagement and insubordination.

The list shows these offences committed in every department, with tellers, branch managers, postmen, mail processors, depot supervisors, quality and oversight officers and drivers taking part.

Sapo's loss to salaries being paid to employees who have been suspended pending their disciplinary hearings amounts to R41,92-million for the 2020/2021 year alone.

The offences included, among others, unlawful withdrawals from clients' accounts, misconduct and fraud, to Social Relief of Distress (SRD) and Southern African Social Security Agency (Sassa) funds/cards, theft of company funds, and alleged involvement in robberies and burglaries at Sapo branches.

Sapo said in the two years since May 2020, there were 1 131 incidents of burglaries and 631 incidents of armed robberies as well as 103 cases of vandalism or malicious damage to property.

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