Tag: South Africa

South Africa Post Office gets its house in order

Posted by | Sep 2, 2007 | |

The SA Post Office is slowly picking up the pieces after a year filled with controversy.

New chairman Vuyo Mahlati said this week that the Post Office was in the process of a major overhaul, from corporate culture to tender processes and a “brand recovery”.

It will also spend R800-million to R900-million a year on infrastructure investment.

Through a geographical information system, the Post Office is giving rural citizens postal addresses for the first time. According to the 2001 census, SA had 11.2 million households. Of these, only 4.1 million had street addresses, giving 63% of households no addresses.

The Post Office is recovering from a period of intense controversy following the suspension and later firing of former chief executive Khutso Mampeule, his criminal proceedings against his predecessor, Maanda Manyatshe, and a government-initiated forensic audit implicating a number of people in top positions at the parastatal. This includes the current acting CEO, Motshoanetsi Lesoka, and acting chief financial officer Nick Buick.

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DHL in drug distribution deal

Posted by | Jul 27, 2007 | |

DHL Global Forwarding is to distribute albendazole, a drug used in the prevention of Lymphatic Filariasis also known as elephantiasis, for GlaxoSmithKline on a not for profit agreement basis.

As part of a commitment to eliminate LF, GSK has opened a GBP 1.5m manufacturing facility in Cape Town, South Africa to produce albendazole. GSK is partnering with DHL Global Forwarding to manage global distribution. The operation is based at its Cape Town distribution centre.

GSK has donated more than 600 million treatments free of charge to stop the transmission of this disease.

Over the past three and a half years, DHL Global Forwarding has worked with GSK to distribute albendazole to 36 countries.

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UPU regional round table on the future World Postal Strategy

Posted by | Jul 19, 2007 | |

“This plan gives us hope for the future of the postal business as the postal service remains the most important means of communication for the majority of the population,” said Norman Munzhelele of the South African Ministry of Communication, at the close of the second UPU regional round table on the future World Postal Strategy, which took place on 18 and 19 July in Nairobi, Kenya, host city of the 2008 UPU Congress.

As was the case during the first round table held in St. Petersburg in June, the more than 30 African countries attending this UPU regional round table gave the green light to the proposed framework for the 2009–2012 World Postal Strategy.

The round table was organized in cooperation with the Pan African Postal Union (PAPU).

The future strategy, which will be presented for adoption at the 2008 Nairobi Congress, is built around three main objectives, including network interconnectivity, postal sector governance and economic and market development.

Countries underlined the importance of access to universal service for all, and the single postal territory. They expressed appreciation for the UPU’s Development Plan for Africa and other UPU development cooperation activities in the region, but stressed the importance of equal opportunities for all countries without any discrimination. These views were strongly supported by UPU Director General Edouard Dayan.

Five more similar round tables will be organized in various regions of the world from now to December. The next one will take place in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 3 September.

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South African Post Office still needs state subsidy

Posted by | Mar 5, 2007 | |

The South African Post Office would continue to need state subsidies for a number of years despite its increasing profitability because of its obligation to roll out infrastructure in underserviced areas, chief financial officer Nick Buick told Parliament last week.

Buick noted that in the past the cash-strapped Post Office had dramatically underinvested in infrastructure.

To redress this as well as to fulfil the institution’s universal service obligations, it would continue to need a subsidy for the next few years.

In terms of its licence, the Post Office was obliged to open a specified number of retail outlets in rural areas, which were not always profitable. In the 2006-07 year, the Post Office received a subsidy of R351,4m.

It has been allocated R364m for 2007-08 and is projected to receive R1,1bn in total from the state in the next three years.

Acting CEO Motshoanetsi Lefoka, told the committee capital investment of R755m was planned for 2007-08, with the bulk of this (R263m) targeted for new retail outlets, relocations and upgrades of existing post offices.

A further R150m was earmarked for the mail business.

One of the organisation’s aims in future, Lefoka said, would be to strengthen the logistics and courier business in order to bring in an equity partner.

The Post Office is projecting an increase in total revenue of 8% to R5bn (R4,6bn) in the current year to end-March and a net profit of R295m (R486m).

Postal services contributed 65% to total revenue and non-traditional income 35%, a split that Lefoka wants to correct by achieving greater diversification into financial services and other non-traditional sources of income.

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Case study: Pension products in South Africa

Posted by | Jan 1, 2007 | |

Interview with Mrs. Totsie Memela Khambule, Managing Director of the South Africa Postbank.

Q: Could you describe the role of South Africa PostBank with regards to channelling domestic financial resources in your country?

A: The role of South Africa PostBank is to provide access to the underserved markets in our country, which are estimated to represent 13 million people. Our institution also inculcates a culture of savings to all South African communities. Moreover, the South Africa Postbank (SAPO) extends access to government departments by supporting government initiatives that provide financial services but do not have their own retail network to reach the communities. We are committed to becoming a provider of choice for government services. To contribute to the social and economic development of our economy is key for us.

Q: Why address pensioners in a relatively young country such as South Africa? Do you plan to extend the Pension FlexiCard project to other customer segments?

A: The South African government currently provides pensions and social grants to 11.4 million people for a total value of ZAR 4.6 billion per month (approx 0.6 billion USD). The majority of these beneficiaries are paid in cash. The government objective is to have within a number of five years 50% of the population banked.

We believe we have a platform and the facilities to serve this market. The other objective is to reduce the cost of banking for the beneficiaries by enabling them to access debit cards which can be used in retail points of sale. The Pension Flexi Card offered by Postbank, currently targeted to the pensioners market, can be extended to other social grant beneficiaries.

Q: What have been the considerations behind the implementation of biometric technology?

A: The main consideration leading to the development of SAPO’s Biometric Solution was to offer a competitive pension/social grant payment solution that was secure, affordable and supportive to the government’s objective of increasing access to finance for the unbanked. At the time, SAPO was losing pension customers to the competitors who already had biometric based payment solutions and the decision to invest was based on a strategic move to regain market share.

The initial project was concluded within 50 days and the cost to implement the system at 118 post office branches was ZAR 11,8 million (approx. 1.6 million USD). Apart from the technological challenges that had to be tackled (such as the use of satellite technology and the use of smart card encryption technology), the biometric solution also had to guarantee customer choice. This is why we opted for an open-system approach that allowed the beneficiary to choose how and when payments are made.

Contact: [email protected] or [email protected]

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