The SA Post Office suspects vagrants are to blame for a large pile of letters found dumped on a greenbelt in Sunningdale.
On Wednesday July 15, Sunningdale resident George Rose found about 250 letters on an open piece of land behind Chalkwood House Nursery School.
According to the Post Office, a quality controller visited the address after Tabletalk queried the dumping.
“All of the items were opened and all addressed to Mr. S.S. Jochelson, PO Box 104 Sunninghill, 2157. The post box is not rented out at this time, and we established that Mr Jochelson currently lives in Cape Town,” the Post Office said in a statement.
“It is suspected that Mr Jochelson disposed of his old mail and that the black bag that was lying underneath the mail was taken from his wheelie bin and opened by vagrants. The mail dated from as far back as 2004.”
The Post Office said attempts to confirm if Mr Jochelson had thrown his mail out were unsuccessful. The letters are still in the possession of the Post Office and will eventually be destroyed.
The Post Office said anyone who found abandoned mail should immediately report it to their nearest post office. They can also report it to the Post Office’s Crime Buster hotline at 0800 020 070.
“Failing to deliver mail is a transgression of the Postal Services Act and the Post Office has a zero-tolerance policy regarding this.
“Where evidence is found that a Post Office employee dumped mail, disciplinary steps are taken and if found guilty, the compulsory verdict is dismissal and a criminal charge is laid with the police,” the Post Office statement said.