Question NW1946 to the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies

Reply:

The Minister and the Department have not been informed of any families living in rural KwaZulu-Natal without addresses who cannot be reached through normal postal services.

However, the process of address roll-out in KZN was hampered by the South African Post Office’s (SAPO’s) lack of materials and tools of trade (paint, vehicles, and other related materials) during the 2019/2020 financial year.

To mitigate these challenges, the SAPO address rollout team provided communities with their addresses in writing and requested the community to then “put up” their addresses themselves.

The team continued with community education on how to use the allocated numbers. Community leaders were also provided with the SAPO contact numbers to call should there be new houses in their areas The SAPO team experienced challenges in some areas where it was refused access by the Chief and other circumstances, and in Zululand only. The team provided the SAPO contact numbers should they require any further assistance.

Areas where access was denied include:

1. The Gcothoyi Tribal Authority Chief in Kranskop who refused to allow the address rollout because he did not agree with the pay rate for field workers.

2. At Dondotha Village, KwesakaMthethwa Tribal authority in the Empangeni area was affected by the high risk of vehicle hijackings.

The Chief was aware of the challenges, but the process could not be completed despite it already having begun.

team still attends to all address enquiries when received, however due to the financial challenges experienced at SAPO, there is no current address rollout plan. The address roll-out plan will be prioritised as soon as SAPO is stabilised and fully operational, especially in rural communities.

Thank You.