MHA-Rose Village Residents in the News
Week ending October 17, 2025
News Feature | Northcliff Melville Times | 3
Ronnie gets our stamp of approval
Even with the South African Post Office under business rescue since 2023 – a process that, among other measures, required a reduction in workforce – there are still employees who show up with dedication and heart. One of them is Ronnie Seima.
As we commemorate World Post Day on October 9, we take a peek into the seemingly almost-forgotten world of post.
Found cycling with many purpose through many neighbourhoods, Seima begins his day at the Ferndale-based Randburg depot, where he prepares mail according to the streets he’ll be delivering to. He chose to become a postman 13 years ago – a role he was eager to fulfil, drawn by his love of meeting people.
Over the years, he’s also come to appreciate helping customers who are lost. “As a postman, I get familiar with the surroundings where I deliver mail.”
As one might imagine, the job comes with its share of challenges – from bicycle breakdowns to dogs with equal bark and bite, Seima says the hardest thing is finding addresses in time.
A broken bicycle and the time it takes to fix it mean time lost from the tasks he hopes to complete on schedule. Even after more than a decade on the job, the sound of barking dogs still unsettles him.
“The worst is when they run after you and try to bite you.”
Then there are the rainy days. “When it’s raining, it is difficult to do my job as I get wet and I have to keep the mail dry. Thankfully, I’m prepared to bear the pain; I make that look a bit easier.”
Delivering to complexes presents another hurdle. He’s often denied access by security, which delays delivery and adds to the day’s strain.
To ease the load, Seima looks forward to the rollout of GPS tracking and route optimisation software to streamline deliveries.
“We are not there yet, but we are getting there,” he said with hope.
He believes the most important skills a postman can have are accuracy and attention to detail, especially when sorting letters, as well as a solid knowledge of the delivery area to avoid getting lost and missing deadlines.
Inevitably, Seima sees his job as vital. “I hope people see it as an important role because we connect communities.”
It’s also a role that brings small moments of kindness, like the friendly nods from people he greets, which offer him a brief respite and a boost of morale.
Signed with love
Described as special because of how they offer unique, tangible, and deeply personal connections, handwritten letters will always be cherished for the demonstration of the sender’s deliberate effort, time, and thoughtfulness.
When Janice Kelly, a resident of Roosevelt Park’s Methodist Homes Rose Village, went through her archives, she found the perfect example of this deliberate effort. It was exemplified through a 30-page handwritten letter her father sent to her mother while aboard the Short Solent, a flying boat, en route from Southampton to the Vaal Dam in June 1948.
The expedition, which included various stops, took all of four days, was documented by her father, each page describing his travels to each country in detail. “He described how he put on his coat for the first time in Africa, as well as the mosquito nets,” Kelly said.
The letter was also accompanied by postcards he would purchase at each stop. “Though they had nothing descriptive in them, I suppose, like one would send a WhatsApp message saying something like ‘I have arrived’.”
Kelly described her father as someone who was quite straight to the point, so seeing the 30-page letter initially surprised her, but it intrigued her. “I found it fascinating, especially his thoughts around the great new world he found himself in, and the different environment.”
In the months he took to settle in Johannesburg, his family, who consisted of Kelly’s two younger siblings, were back in the UK, where they would eagerly look forward to his letters. “You relied on the post.”
They would eventually all come together aboard the passenger ship Capetown Castle in December 1948. Leaving their UK home further solidified the importance of these handwritten sentiments. She recalled how her mother would write letters to her family back in the UK, and they would get letters back, as well as parcels at Christmas from her grandmother. “You had to write a thank you letter back to your grandparents. Letters also, very often, just described everyday life.”
An aspect that made letters important was that travel was not easy at the time. “Whatsapp or phones did not exist. It was a built-up area, but there was a lot of poverty. Many people who lived in the countryside lived their entire lives having never travelled, so letters to family members, who had moved away, were very important.”
Kelly has managed to save most of the letters her family members either received or sent. One of the oldest dates back to 1917, when her mother’s cousin wrote to his aunt, describing the tragedy of the Titanic sinking. She has loved archiving these priceless pieces of history and sees it as important, as a way to preserve a little bit of history of her family, so you know where you come from.
Some letters, however, show people’s lives in their fuller sense, as they were before they married, she regards as personal.
With two of her children living abroad, Kelly feels fortunate for the technological advances that afford her easy communication, though it doesn’t beat the magic of pen and paper.
Notes from the heart in Roosevelt Park
For baby boomers, gen X’s and millennials, sending and receiving letters was a common feature in their lives. These generations delighted in handwritten letters sent by families separated by oceans, post cards sent about adventures newly conquered, and letters that connected pen pals from different parts of the world.
Though not popularly observed in our country, World Post Day is recognised by many others on October 9. It is said to mark the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874, and in 1969, the union declared the day World Post Day at its congress. Given the current state of our post office, coupled with technological advances that make communication faster, a large amount of younger generations will not experience the pleasure that comes from receiving a handwritten letter.
Letters are so special, that some baby boomers, found at Roosevelt Park’s Methodist Homes Rose Village, still cherish them to this day. Here are some of them with those letters, received from parents, friends, and loved ones:
- Ann Smit with various postcards her mother sent, one of which shares her coming second at the World Games hosted in Egypt in 1962. Some of the oldest letters she has are dated 1954.
- Formally from Zimbabwe, Luckyson Prozes shows all the stamps he has collected, which add to his connection with home.
- Jenny Bonham has a whole host of stamps she has collected, as well as letters she received from her friend.
- Brigid Rose Timmann with letters from her father, who, from when she was in boarding school at 12 years old, would write her weekly letters.
- Kath Salmon with letters she received from Chris. She also has letters from a pen pal she made in Australia. They are still in contact, her friend now being 92 years old and herself 89 years old.
