Senior politicians are divided over the future of South Africa's struggling Post Office (Sapo), particularly regarding its legislated monopoly on reserved postal services. The debate centers around whether Sapo should remain a state-owned entity with exclusive rights to deliver sub-1kg packages or be partially privatized to improve its competitiveness and delivery record.
Senior politicians are clashing over the future of the struggling South African Post Office’s legislated monopoly on reserved postal services, which gives it the exclusive right to deliver sub-1kg packages.his department was considering partly privatising the Post Office to help modernise its operations and improve its competitiveness.
That led to Sapo lodging a complaint against Postnet with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa in 2018. “The preferred outcome is for Sapo to get back on its feet by regaining the public’s trust, including public entities, not through compulsory use of its services,” Malatsi stated.
“Sapo is a strategic state institution with an important mandate to connect people to one another and to the government in a fast-evolving technological age,” said Diko. Communications minister Solly Malatsi and Parliamentary communications portfolio chair Khusela Diko The call to renew the postal service’s exclusive licence could be met with fierce resistance from the e-commerce sector and courier services currently delivering small parcels.
While many private couriers have been providing excellent services to the South African public, the Post Office has failed to meet the delivery targets set out in its licence for at least the past decade.
S A Post Office Monopoly Privatisation Delivery Services Government Intervention
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