Why the SA Post Office lost the parcel war

mylesillidge

mylesillidge

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The SA Post Office lost the parcel war

Sending a parcel with a private courier in South Africa is cheaper, faster, and more customer-friendly than using the South African Post Office, according to a recent MyBroadband test.

The Post Office recently lost its disputed monopoly on delivering small parcels in South Africa. It had been granted a 25-year exclusivity period, which ran from April 2000 until April 2025.
 
To do this, he invited interested parties to submit their views on the subject. Some argued that couriers should pay the Post Office an “agency fee” to be permitted to deliver small parcels.

However, after considering the feedback, Malatsi ultimately decided to revoke the SA Post Office’s exclusivity on small parcels, announcing the change in the Government Gazette on 12 December 2025.
Click to expand...

He should have made them send their objections via the post office.
 
So it took six days to get from the PE hub to the post office?

Screenshot 2026-01-06 at 13.12.13.png

FWIW the recipient probably won't receive the notification and will have to fight with the PO to get the parcel - hope there's a hoodie in there for me them.
 
Didn't think we need a full article to explain this conundrum
 
An interesting comparison would be the cost and income per employee of these two companies and other financial measurements (way beyond my understanding) - suffice it to say, that I have no doubt that the Post Office would lose any financial measure.

The Post Office has no doubt been run as a benevolent society for the employment of cadres of acolytes (like almost all the SOEs under the control of the ANC.) Attendance and "ingratiation" is sufficient to get paid - forget actually doing any work, and horror of horrors, doing a good job!

The Courier Guy is, I would guess (as I don't know), a for profit SME run by a group of people committed to their own welfare and betterment, by working hard and doing a good job that actually meets customers' expectations (like 2 days for delivery)

There is no surprise at the outcome of this "parcel war".

The only light at the end of this dark tale of collapse of the Post Office is that Malatsi has shown some appreciation for reality and some backbone by not extending this monopoly. Or has he? I'm dubious about the bona fides of his actions - after all can anything the ANC does be accepted on face value and trusted as being really for the benefit of society? I wouldn't be surprised to read that Malatsi's cousin, twice removed, has a courier company....
 
Revoking the Post Office's monopoly almost seems too good to be true. Is this another green shoot indicating that SA is about to get better?
 
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