DCDT Minister Calls for Comments on the Future of SAPO

Minister Gungubele has published a call for comments on the South African Post Office (SAPO). The deadline is 6 March. EFSA is preparing its comments. The Minister is required to ask for comments on the Postal Act every 5 years. This does not come at the best time for the government. As readers will recall, a report in December showed that SAPO has debts of over Rand19bn and as an immediate action it was forced to shed 600,000 workers (50% of the work force). Many post offices have been closed down. The debate rests on the future of SAPO’s de jure monopoly on last mile delivery for any postal item of up to 1kg. There is also a court case brought by SAPO and its regulator against PostNet for providing post-boxes. This case is slowly moving through the judicial system. While the last mile may remain legally a monopoly of SAPO, ecommerce deliveries have de facto been open to delivery and logistic companies for many years.