Eleventh-hour hearings on South Africa’s Postal Services Amendment Bill — which has raised concerns among courier service providers — were interrupted on Tuesday morning when a parliamentary committee meeting was declared irregular by African National Congress chief whip in the National Council of Provinces. The Bill was scheduled to be passed by the council on Wednesday afternoon.
Chief whip Mohammed Enver Surty called for the meeting to be adjourned to await a meeting of the council to allow a motion to be passed to permit the select committee on public enterprises and labour to reopen hearings on the Bill.
This was necessary in terms of parliamentary rules as the committee had already passed the Bill — but an outcry from courier services led to the reconvening of the committee to hold the hearings. The National Assembly committee did not hold hearings as it was argued that the Bill simply made technical changes to the Postal Services Act.
Committee chairperson Constance Nkuna apologised for the inconvenience caused to representatives of courier services companies and said that a meeting of the committee would be held later in the day and presentations by two courier service providers would be taken as read. In the meantime, the council was expected to this morning pass the motion to allow the Bill to be referred back to the committee.
The committee is scheduled to resume its meeting later on Tuesday. A parliamentary official noted that if substantial changes were made to the legislation, the matter would then be required to go back to the National Assembly — probably in November.
Despite denials from the Department of Communications that the legislation would affect the business of courier services, there remains much controversy over the Bill, with the official opposition Democratic Alliance arguing that it will constrict — if not bar — the operations of couriers for parcels weighing under 1kg.
John du Preez of the Private Parcel Industry Action Group said that 50% of big courier company business was in this area, while up to 100% of small business handled parcels in this category. His key problem with the legislation was that “it is not clear”.
His view was mirrored by Robert Wilson, a lawyer representing DHL courier services. He argued that there were references to courier services that remained in the principal Act “which could cause confusion down the track”.
In terms of the Bill the principal Act is amended to protect the exclusivity of the South African Post Office to provide reserved postal services, which includes all letters with a mass of up to 1kg that fit “in a rectangular box” with specified dimensions of length (458mm), width (324mm) and thickness (100mm).
The monopoly given to the post office also applies to the issuing of postage stamps and the provision of a roadside collection and address box system.
It is further proposed in the Bill that courier services should only be licensed to provide unreserved services.
Wilson said if the effect of changes to Section 16.5 off the Act were that courier services were not part of postal services “then the reference to courier services should be deleted in schedule two of the principal Act”.
In terms of that schedule courier services are referred to as unreserved postal services — those letters and parcels larger or heavier than the dimensions set out above and up to 30kg.
Wilson also questioned the wording of schedules on the principal Act that referred to reserved items being “directed to a specific persons or persons”.
He questioned whether this meant delivered to the address of that person or directly to the person himself.
This was explained by members of the courier industry as being important as the industry could continue to do its work as long as the items were delivered hand-to-hand to a person — even if it was an item of under 1kg.
Wilson also wondered about the “paternalistic” provision in the amendment Bill which required that those registered to provide a courier service should be able to deliver items “within the Republic at the latest by 13h00 on the first working day after receipt of the item” for delivery.
“That is rather a paternalistic approach to take in relation to the courier industry. I am advised that if any client of a courier company were not afforded a proper service they would lose customers. It is not necessary to regulate this element of the private sector.” — I-Net Bridge