Courier operators remain in legal limbo over the delivery of parcels weighing less than 1kg, despite gazetted changes intended to remove “small parcels” from the South African Post Office’s reserved postal services.
The issue was raised at the monthly Transport Forum hosted by the South African Express Parcel Association (SAEPA), where SAEPA CEO Garry Marshall said litigation around the interpretation of the Postal Services Act had now dragged on for almost a decade.
“It has been eight years, and it still has not been withdrawn. In fact, the business rescue practitioners at the Post Office are pushing to have those people that they say have been operating illegally in the past prosecuted,” he said.
The dispute centres around whether courier operators may legally transport parcels weighing less than 1kg.
In December last year, Communications Minister Solly Malatsi gazetted changes removing “small parcels” from the reserved postal services category, effectively ending SAPO’s monopoly on parcels under 1kg. Despite this, SAPO’s business rescue practitioners maintain that the monopoly remains in force until the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has completed the required regulatory processes.
The issue remained a major concern for the express parcel industry and required a resolution, particularly in light of the growth of e-commerce, with South African consumers increasingly relying on courier networks for online purchases, Marshall said.
Any monopoly over parcels weighing less than 1kg was outdated, and SAPO did not have the operational capacity to fulfil such a mandate, he said.
Marshall said litigation against SAEPA and several courier operators was continuing.
SAPO and SAEPA have been embroiled in litigation since 2018 over the interpretation of the Postal Services Act. According to SAPO, the Act grants it the exclusive right to deliver letters, postcards, printed matter and parcels weighing up to 1kg. SAEPA and parties to the court action, including PostNet and Takealot, maintain that courier operators are also entitled to transport sub-1kg parcels.
In 2019, ICASA ruled in favour of SAPO, directing courier operators to cease delivering small parcels. SAEPA subsequently approached the High Court and obtained an interdict allowing couriers to continue handling such shipments while the matter is being contested.
Despite years of legal uncertainty around the issue, no courier operator has been prosecuted for delivering parcels weighing less than 1kg.
