Stalking Venus

Associated Press reports yet another nail in the coffin for South African commerce. The leading online retailer, Amazon.com has halted all standard shipping to South Africa because of the enormous volume of items being stolen at S.A. post offices countrywide.

South African customers who still wish to purchase goods via Amazon can do so, but only if they choose a premium-fee courier as a shipping method so that the parcel can be tracked from door to door.

I have similar problems with magazine subscriptions from overseas. I’m a subscriber to Empire, a premier UK-based movie magazine, and have had several issues disappear at Cape Town’s central post office.

Crime in our post offices is so bad now that Touchline Media’s local subscription offices now have a facility whereby you can launch an investigation into your local post office by requesting it directly from the subscriptions office.

It’s all rather disgusting really, and yet further proof that the corruption in this country has not yet peaked.