/ 26 August 2008

Post Office plans to stamp out mail crime

The South African Post Office will spend R50-million on mail security in the next financial year, chief executive Motshoanetsi Lefoka said on Tuesday.

The South African Post Office (Sapo) will spend R50-million on mail security in the next financial year, chief executive Motshoanetsi Lefoka announced on Tuesday.

”I am committed to reducing mail crime,” she said in releasing Sapo’s annual results for 2008.

Lefoka acknowledged that there was still ”some scepticism” about Sapo’s image when it came to mail security, particularly in light of the case involving internet retailer Amazon.com.

In June, Amazon announced that it would no longer send goods to South Africa by post because of rampant theft by post office workers.

It said customers would have to pay for a private courier service, adding about R420 to the price of a DVD.

At the time, the post office expressed surprise at Amazon’s move, which it found ”unexpected”. It said there had been 1 699 reports of mail theft in the 2007 financial year.

Spokesperson Lungile Lose said there was a 99% success rate in pursuing these cases.

He said Sapo had installed cameras at sorting centres and had established a crime and ethics line for postal workers to report any suspicious behaviour.

Lefoka said on Tuesday: ”One letter undelivered is one letter too many.”

She said Sapo hoped to improve its 93% mail delivery rate to 95% in the next year, and to 98% within three years of rolling out its new postal coding system.

Lefoka said Sapo made R565-million in pre-tax profits in 2008, up 12% from the R507-million posted last year.

This was on the back of a 7% rise in revenue from R5,2-billion in 2007 to R5,6-billion in the year under review.

”Of particular note was the group’s ability to manage its expenses, which grew at an inflation-beating 7%,” she said in a statement, adding that this had resulted in a profit margin of just over 10%.

Total assets grew by 10% from R7-billion to R7,7-billion, while cash and investments on the balance sheet increased 17,4% from R4,6-billion to R5,4-billion.

Describing this as a ”sound financial platform”, Lefoka said it was central to the company efficiently connecting with the world.

Sapo’s shareholder had agreed to provide it with a R372-million subsidy in the next financial year, and to increase this to R383-million in 2010.

She said the subsidy would mainly contribute to operational and capital expenditure in areas not commercially viable in South Africa.

Sapo had a ”serviceable landscape” of about 1,2-million square kilometres, was responsible for more than 2 500 outlets, 5 500 service points and employed 16 000 people who delivered six-million mail items a day. In the past three years, the number of addresses it reached had increased by nearly 5,7-million, more than two-thirds of them in rural areas. – Sapa