The South African Post Office (SAPO) has announced that more transport connections have become available under Adjusted Alert Level 1, which will see the national postal service expand its international mail service to 46 destinations.
This comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa moved the country to Adjusted Level 1 lockdown in September.
SAPO has reminded customers to include their cell phone number with their address details so that the delivering Post Office is able to send them a SMS when the item is ready for collection.
“Customers who are expecting an international item are requested to collect the item from their local Post Office when they receive a SMS asking them to do so,” the State-owned postal service said.
SAPO said international items will be delivered within an average of 10 work days.
However, for a quicker service, the Post Office offers EMS, an international postal Express Mail Service, which delivers items within 24 hours of arrival in the destination country.
“The new SA Post Office is obsessed with the customer. Effective and efficient ways to serve customer needs are continuously being introduced,” SAPO said.
In addition, customers can easily access the electronic customs declaration form on the Post Office website for quick clearance of parcels.
Meanwhile, South Africans are entitled to two tax-free gifts from abroad per year, provided the value of each gift is below R1 400.
SAPO advises customers who send parcels abroad to pack the items very securely and to use padding, as the mail is transported as bulk freight.
International parcels can be tracked all the way to delivery.
“It is illegal to send or receive live animals or plants, flammable or explosive goods or illegal substances such as drugs in the mail. Any form of medication may only be imported into South Africa if the sender has a permit to export medication to South Africa.”
Meanwhile, some countries do not allow the importing of any plant or animal products, even in sealed packaging.
For more information, please visit the website of the postal administration in the receiving country
According to the SAPO, the mail service is now available to the following countries:
Road transport:
Botswana
Lesotho
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia
Tanzania
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Airmail:
Albania
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
China
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Maldives
Mauritius
Netherlands
Oman
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Singapore
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
USA
Source: South African Government News Agency