Snail mail at risk of extinction
The postal industry is threatened by the growing global growth of digitalisation and mobile technologies, but it remains the most reliable means of communication in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
Speaking at the SADC Postal Strategy Stakeholders Consultative Conference held at GICC this week, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications Tsaone Thebe said the alternative means of communication has a significant shift away from the physical delivery of paper-based items. Equally worrisome is the fact that customers across the globe demand faster, cheaper and flexible communications services and have therefore switched over to digital platforms to communicate. “This has resulted in accelerated decline in domestic mail volume and a fall in total revenue realised from postal services,” she said, adding that now on a threat of extinction it has become important for the industry to rethink its method of reaching and keeping sophisticated communications to customers. But,speaking on behalf of the SADC chair, Harold Perekeni conceded that the digital platform had facilitated greater volumes on shipment of goods due to purchase of goods online.
Perekeni is the PS for communications and transport ministry in Malawi, which is the current chair of SADC. Although the postal services were fighting for survival in the face of escalating transportation costs, regulated pricing, strong unions and impact of new and unrestricted, he said it remained an “integral part of the lives of millions of people in our region” and the “most reliable” means of communication. He added that postal services could be used to stimulate the agriculture sector and transform the livelihoods of smallholders and commercial farmers through access to new markets within and beyond the region.
On this score, Thebe conceded, saying that postal services have strong ties with the rural community and the nation, but besought it to take advantage of the competitive and liberalised international systems that provide established mergers, alliances and joint ventures with fellow administrators in the private sector. She observed that in the past decade the postal market has evolved from being “cooperative in nature to a competitive environment,” adding that this change has placed a need on the postal industry to undertake strategic reorientation and corporate restructuring to ensure its survival. Perekeni said that postal network is at the heart of communities. The two-day conference discussed resolutions from the ICT Ministers Doha postal congress and helped with strategy development, which will be discussed by ministers in South Africa in November.
