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Four international consortium have put in Indicative Proposals for the Strategic Management Partnership (SMP) contract for the restructuring, reform and development of the SA Post Office.

They are:

Canada Post Team;
New Zealand Post and Royal Mail;
Deutche Post; and
La Poste (France).

Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Minister Jay Naidoo says he is particularly pleased that the bidders are counted among the top 10 postal services in the world.

"That is a mark of the interest we have had in the process since we began the restructuring exercise in 1997 with the release of the Green Paper on Postal Policy," he says. The bidders had demonstrated experience in transformation issues and in the development of postal services in many countries around the world.

People of South Africa deserve a reliable, efficient and violation-free postal service.

"We want to reposition the SA Post Office as a more competitive company, responsive to the needs of its customers. To do that we needed to attract the very best skills in the areas of management, technology and training, all of which are hallmarks of the world's leading postal services and are particular strengths of the consortiums bidding for the SMP contract," he says.

In addition to submitting information as required by the Indicative Proposal, bidders also submitted proposals that addressed the specific needs of the SA Post Office.

With postal services becoming increasingly competitive globally, it is important to position the SA Post Office in a strategic alliance that will most benefit it in the future. Locally, the SA Post Office is in a strong position to become a hub for the region and the continent. "We believe we can develop a competitive entity and with the assistance of a Strategic Management Partner and the introduction of new services and products, we believe we will be able to reposition the SA Post Office locally and globally," Naidoo says.

The deal will ultimately bring enormous benefits to South Africa as it will:

* See the elimination of the government subsidy which has to happen within three years according to the Postal Services Bill passed last year by Parliament;

* Assist in the development of postal infrastructure in terms of the roll-out of addresses and increasing access to basic services to meet the requirement in the White Paper on Postal Policy which compels the SA Post Office to roll-out 4 million new addresses;

* Development of new services like e-commerce, and

* Improve the quality of the postal service (by improving delivery times and reducing mail violations).

The process will be concluded during the first half of this year (1999) after full consultation with all stakeholders.

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