Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)
STATEMENT BY JAY NAIDOO, MINISTER FOR POSTS, TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND BROADCASTING AT THE INTRODUCTION OF THE POSTAL SERVICES BILL
National Assembly -, Wednesday, November 4, 1998
INTRODUCTION
Postal services are a basic link serving the entire population. It also serves as an important medium of communication for business and commerce. Access to basic postal services is the right of all citizens.
The policies of the past resulted in huge disparities benefiting a single population group. The redress of these imbalances is essential to the social and economic development of all communities, especially the previously disadvantaged groups, and that is what our White Paper seeks to do. This Bill gives effect to the legislative principles contained in the White Paper.
The Bill
1. Ensures Universal Service, 2. Establishes an orderly regulatory environment, 3. Establishes a Postal Regulator, 4. Strengthens the crime enforcement provisions with regard to postal crimes and offences as well as general crimes, and finally, 5. Repeals and incorporates various sections of the old Post Office Act
UNIVERSAL SERVICE
It is government's belief that the growth of competition in the sector is healthy for the development of the sector, the economy and the public. Competition will therefore be encouraged by government, subject to the requirements for the achievement of universal service provision and related regulation.
So in order to ensure Universal Service, the South African Post Office is given monopoly protection on issuing of stamps and roadside letterbox collection and letter mail up to 1kg (this has been reduced from 2kg). The monopoly will be reviewed after three years.
All other services, including parcel and express services and any future services differing from those defined as reserved, are subject to competition and market forces.
REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT
The Bill seeks to establish an orderly regulatory environment for postal services to monitor and regulate tariff structures, to provide for universal services and other license conditions, quality, research, standards and enforcement.
It is proposed that a Postal Regulator be established with the main aim of achieving universal service and to regulate the sector.
POSTAL REGULATOR
It will be located within the Department of Communications and staffed by employees of the Department. The functions of the Postal Regulator will include monitoring and protecting the exclusive rights of the Post Office with respect to the reserved services, and ensuring that the Post Office does not abuse its monopoly position in the market and with respect to its customers.
It will also license courier services operating within the reserved postal services. Courier services operating in the unreserved postal service area will be required to register with the Regulator.
CRIME
Postal crime poses one of the most serious problems in the postal sector. Crime within the sector and against postal services not only results in greater financial loss, but also leads to the violation of basic human rights.
The incidents of crime in the post office and the postal service is of extreme concern to us and a number of measures have already been successfully taken to reduce crime. In this Bill, we seek to strengthen the law in regard to our fight against crime by empowering the Post Office to take active steps against postal violators.
GENERAL
The Bill includes a number of other elements that I would like to mention briefly.
Black economic empowerment is to be promoted through the development of a decisive programme that will promote meaningful participation in the mainstream economy through management, ownership and employee positions, through procurement and tendering policies and through encouraging the role of small, medium and micro-enterprises and entrepreneurial involvement.
Rapid advances in technology provide both a threat and an opportunity to the postal sector. New technology is being incorporated into the Post Office, facilitating the improvement and expansion of service and quality of service offered. It is our vision that every person in our country will not only have a physical address, but also an em-mail address and the Bill validates the use of technology for providing email and Internet facilities.
CONCLUSION
The Postal Services Bill gives legislative power to the policies outlined in the White Paper that we released in June this year. I believe that it is another step along the road to creating a vibrant postal sector that will play a vital role as we approach the next millennium.
The Postal Services Bill, when read together with the Broadcasting Bill and Telecommunications Act lays the basis for a digital convergence of technologies that will catapult South African into the global information revolution.
Thank you.