Corporatisation will inspire confidence in the South African Post Office again: Cwele
Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday 31 January, minister of telecommunications and postal services Siyabonga Cwele detailed the turn around strategy for the South African Post Office (SAPO).
“The SAPO is a Titanic. It is large and takes time to turn but it is turning into an organisation that play an increasingly important part in the radical transformation of our society,” said Minister Cwele.
According to Cwele, his department was currently in the process of engaging with the National Treasury to expedite the corporatisation of the Postbank. Nominees have passed the ‘fit and proper’ process and will be appointed after following due process.
In addition, he cited a drastic modernisation of the service with a focus on new businesses that are based on courier services, financial services and the internet economy.
While the performance of the post office was slightly behind the projections at present, this increased focus on generating revenue through new businesses should improve performance going forward.
This has resulted in returning customer confidence said post office CEO, Mark Barnes.
“Now that we are operationally stable, the key thing is to bring back customer confidence, especially amongst those customers who left the post office over the past three years. We have to consistently demonstrate our ability to deliver and that we have a stable workforce.”
Barnes said the Postbank will provide inclusive financial services at the right cost to communities in rural areas. He also said the SAPO was interested in participating in the distribution of the South African Social Security Agency grants.
“We are also focusing on e-Commerce in collaboration with the Universal Postal Union and local and international players to make a case for South Africa being an e-Commerce Hub for the Southern Africa region. In line with this, we intend expanding our space at OR Tambo by 70% and are also engaging our port and rail operators.”
This diversification has become increasingly clear in the past months, with a 31 January report confirming that Sapo had submitted documents to Parliament indicating that it will apply to formalise its position as a fully-fledged bank by the middle of the year.
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