President Ramaphosa assents to South African Post Office SOC Ltd Amendment Bill

President Cyril Ramaphosa has assented to the South African Post Office SOC Ltd Amendment Bill, which expands the mandate of the South African Post Office and repurposes the Post Office infrastructure to provide diversified and expanded services.
 
The new law expands the objects and mandate of the Post Office and enables its relevance and sustainability by including services that respond to the needs of the users and customers.
 
The expansion will ensure that the Post Office is not only empowered by the legislation to provide basic postal services but is empowered to provide other value-added services to expand on its revenue generating streams.
 
The new law enables the Post Office to serve as a hub for government services and other agency services, and as a digital hub for businesses and communities.
 
The Post Office will also be able to serve as a logistics partner to other e-commerce providers – including small enterprises and informal traders - and any future business that the state-owned company may develop to serve users and consumers.
 
The Post Office is now empowered to continuously adjust its business model in line with the technological and industry developments in the provision of postal services and other services and to enhance the provision of Universal Services Obligation, including the roll-out of service points and the use of third-party infrastructure.
 
The law aims to encourage government institutions, which include national and provincial departments, national and provincial government components and municipalities, to use Post Office infrastructure in the delivery of their services and set aside certain services to be provided by the Post Office.
 
This aims to eliminate the company’s over-reliance on government funding and ensure efficient utilisation of post offices.
 
The new law also addresses governance matters such as the size of the South African Post Office Board, the functions for the Board to deal with creditors and skills requirements for board membership.
 

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President – media@presidency.gov.za

Issued by: The President
Pretoria