{"id":645062,"date":"2026-05-05T09:59:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T07:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=645062"},"modified":"2026-05-05T10:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:04:53","slug":"post-office-in-one-of-south-africas-richest-suburbs-had-no-power-for-over-two-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/government\/645062-post-office-in-one-of-south-africas-richest-suburbs-had-no-power-for-over-two-years.html","title":{"rendered":"Post Office in one of South Africa’s richest suburbs had no power for over two years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Officials at the Post Office in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, said that the facility has had no power in over two years. It has no Internet access, no computers, and can only collect cash from customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to ActionSA member of parliament Alan Beesley, who posted<\/a> a video on Twitter\/X with the claims. Beesley said he visited the Post Office branch undercover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the video posted on Monday, Beesley said he decided to visit the Post Office to check its condition after receiving a complaint from a member of the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside being a member of parliament<\/a>, Beesley is a chartered accountant and holds a master’s degree in development studies from the University of KZN. He is also a former eThekwini councillor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He approached the officials at the Post Office and asked if he could obtain a licence to fish for mussels in the area, but was immediately told they could not help him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“First of all, they do not have electricity, secondly, they do not have the forms, and thirdly, they cannot process the mussel licence because they do not have any computer systems,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beesley asked the officials how long the Umhlanga Post Office branch had been without electricity, and was told that it had been without power for two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umhlanga is often ranked among the wealthiest and most expensive areas in South Africa. The area provides some of the highest real estate prices in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gareth Bailey, Umhlanga area principal at Pam Golding Properties, told The Mercury<\/a> that the area had become attractive to wealthy semi-migrants from Gauteng and returning South Africans living abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Umhlanga and Ballito offer a prime coastal location with a warm climate, ocean views, and beach access,” said Bailey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They’re just 10 to 20 minutes from King Shaka International Airport, which is a huge drawcard for frequent travellers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infrastructure such as private schools, private hospitals, and shopping centres like Gateway and Oceans Mall, as well as the availability of secure gated communities, were attractive to wealthy home seekers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beesley said that the lack of power had made it impossible for the Post Office to have any ICT infrastructure, including Internet, wireless or otherwise, and the capacity to process non-cash payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Post Office could have played such a vital role in the economic development and social development of our country, but it has been totally hollowed out by corruption and incompetence,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post Office strapped for cash amid business rescue plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Alan Beesley, ActionSA member of parliament and Durban businessman. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beesley alleged that the only people currently benefiting from the Post Office are the business rescue practitioners (BRPs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public entity has been engaged in business rescue proceedings since July 2023. In March, communications minister Solly Malatsi urged the Post Office to begin withdrawing from the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, BRP Anoosh Rooplal said in a parliamentary briefing that it could be three to six years before the entity can finally exit business rescue<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rooplal detailed the steps the Post Office would need to take before it could be deemed ready to emerge from business rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included the appointment of a board of directors, the completion of the existing turnaround plan, and the discharge of its debts and obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that this was the only way for the Post Office to avoid liquidation, but that it would require an injection of R350 million in the short term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana allocated R700 million to the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies to address funding pressures at the SABC, the Post Office, and Sentech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rooplal expected an additional R595 million in April from Universal Service Obligation funding to maintain the Post Office’s services in rural and underserved areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he indicated that the Post Office would require additional allocations beyond R595 million if it wants a chance to enact its turnaround plan and exit business rescue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Post Office in Umhlanga, one of South Africa’s wealthiest suburbs, had no power for over two years. This is according to ActionSA MP and businessman Alan Beesley. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":645066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18668],"tags":[70770,104993,52231,32460,71346,87501,104994,59142,3734,361,2760,76862,70848],"class_list":["post-645062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-actionsa","tag-alan-beesley","tag-anoosh-rooplal","tag-business-rescue","tag-enoch-godongwana","tag-ethekwini","tag-gareth-bailey","tag-pam-golding-properties","tag-post-office","tag-sabc","tag-sentech","tag-solly-malatsi","tag-umhlanga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645062"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645062"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":645276,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645062\/revisions\/645276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}