Call for comments on SA Post Office exclusivity

Communications minister Mondli Gungubele has asked interested parties to comment on whether he should extend a law more than two-decades old that gives the SA Post Office (Sapo) a monopoly on delivering mail under 1kg to homes and post boxes.

The Post Office also has exclusivity on the provision of address boxes and issues of stamps.

The exclusivity law is the subject of a court case between the Sapo, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa), PostNet and the SA Express Parcel Association (Saepa).

The Post Office complained in 2018 to Icasa that PostNet was delivering letters and parcels under 1kg, and Icasa found PostNet to be in breach of the law. PostNet took the finding to court and won an interim order allowing it to continue its deliveries, until the main challenge, which other parties have joined in is heard.

The Postal Services Act requires Gungubele to consider the extension to the exclusivity every three years though it does not expect him to issue a note for comment.

Gungubele gazetted a note on February 5 asking for public comment within 30 days on the various exclusivity provisions in the act from 1998.

It is not clear to industry insiders if the review is just a box-ticking exercise, to end the Post Office’s exclusivity or a means to save jobs at the stateowned entity that is effectively bankrupt. Business rescue practitioners of the insolvent Post

Office have suggested cutting 6,000 out of about 11,000 jobs.

The reserved services, according to the notice issued on Monday, include the delivery of all letters, postcards, printed matter, small parcels and other postal articles weighing up to 1kg

CEO Garry Marshall of Saepa, which represents courier companies, said that as far as the organisation knew the past fiveyear exclusivity extension given to the Post Office by a former minister of communications ended in 2022.

“We can’t find any record of the extension since then.”

Marshall said there was not much clarity on the minister’s brief note.

He said the minister was obliged to look at the period of exclusivity and could just be fulfilling his mandatory duties.

It is not clear if this notice is a preamble to dealing with broader issues, he said. Saepa would be asking clarity on the notice.

Ecommerce Forum of Africa CEO Alastair Tempest said his organisation will be commenting on the notice.

Asked about many companies and retailers delivering goods under 1kg and not relying on the Post Office, Tempest said: “The law is not enforced, but that doesn’t mean that the law doesn’t exist.”

Tempest said of the notice: “Minister Mondli Gungubele is facing a conundrum, where he needs to ensure that the public servants who are employed by Sapo don’t completely disappear.”

But the e-commerce industry, which has grown since the pandemic, needs to be protected, said Tempest. Gungubele “needs to achieve a balance”.

“We think we need to as an [e-commerce industry] be very sensitive to the political issues and economic issues. [However] our first priority is the need for us to get deliveries out safely and effectively throughout the whole of Africa.”

GUNGUBELE CONSIDERING EXTENSION OF SAPO MONOPOLY ON DELIVERING MAIL UNDER 1KG TO HOMES AND POST BOXES