Set Back for Couriers and Deliveries in South Africa
The DCDT has extended the South African Post Office's exclusive rights to provide 'reserved' postal services in the country. This means that only the South African Post Office can offer these specific postal services. The extension of these exclusive rights allows the South African Post Office to continue providing these services without competition.
The period has been extended until April 1, 2025, as stated in the gazette on Monday, May 27.
In February 2024, the department announced its plan to review section 16(8) of the Postal Services Act. This section deals with exclusivity periods.
Under this clause, any licenced postal service providers – such as couriers – are restricted from providing selected services. This includes:
- The delivery of all letters, postcards, printed matter, small parcels and other postal articles weighing up to 1 kilogram;
- The same as the above, if it fits into a rectangular box (458mm long x 324mm wide and 100mm thick) or cylinder (458mm long, 100mm thick, up to 1kg).
- Issuing of postage stamps
- Provision of roadside collection and address boxes.
The Post Office used to be the only provider of these services. However, with the collapse of the SAPO, this is no longer the case.
When state postal services fail, independent couriers step in to fill the gap, creating successful businesses over time.
In 2018, SAPO took legal action against PostNet and SA Express Parcel Association. They wanted to prevent them from delivering small packages because it was against SAPO's exclusive rights.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) supported this.
But a court order stopped it because more big companies, like Takealot, got involved.
In the meantime, the South African Post Office has continued to collapse. The group has been operating at a loss every year since 2013, and has exceeded R19 billion in losses over this time.
The DCDT announced in December 2023 that SAPO is projected to suffer a further loss of R2 billion in 2024, during the course of business rescue operations, leading to a substantial reduction in the size of the group.
Sakeliga, a business group, disagreed with the department's notice in February. They said it didn't make sense because SAPO's exclusive license started in 2001 and would end in 2025.
The group made changes to the license regarding exclusivity periods, which were set to expire in March 2022.
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