MTN re-opens all its stores, but safety is its top priority

The country is slowly starting to unlock its doors again. MTN has announced that it is opening up stores nationwide but that doesn’t mean they’re going easy on the sanitation. The company has put in place serious precautions to keep customers safe.

When South Africa went into a country wide lockdown, MTN stores all sighed a painful breath as over 80% of their stores temporarily closed in accordance to government policy. It wasn’t ideal for MTN customers, many of whom were left high and dry by the lack of brick-and-mortar stores offering customer support. With level 4 lockdown restrictions incorporated in every province since last week, MTN has announced that they’ll be reopening all 410 stores across the country.

From 6 May, every MTN store is open but with some strictly controlled systems. Limited trading hours, shift systems, 2 metre social distancing barriers and regular health checks for employees are designed to keep customers safe during the ongoing pandemic. “Our focus is on continuing to give customers all the support they need to stay connected to their friends and family.  Of course, safety is of paramount importance and we ask all customers going into our stores to please adhere to the protocols in place to help them, and our employees, to stay safe,” says Jacqui O’Sullivan, Executive for Corporate Affairs at MTN.

Employees will be provided with copious amounts of hand sanitiser and face masks/shields, will have their temperatures routinely checked by infra-red thermometers and at-risk members of the work force will continue to work from home.

Those limited trading hours? You’ll want to bear those in mind if you plan to visit MTN. Stores will be open until 5PM from Monday to Friday, and 1PM on Saturdays and Sunday which is pretty much the standard, we think. Shouldn’t be too difficult to work around those hours, right? “MTN is ready to scale up the level of services provided in-store as the lockdown levels improve, while our online service channels remain fully operational so that we can provide a full suite of support offerings. We encourage customers who do not need to come into the store to continue using these fast, easy and convenient services online,” said Jacqui O’Sullivan.

“We look forward to welcoming our customers back into our stores and assure them that the highest priority has been placed on managing the risks around COVID-19. We are guided by the new regulations, as well as our own risk-adjusted strategy. We are confident that we can meet our commitment to our customers in a manner that protects them and our front-line people.”