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Cape Town – Operations at the South African Post Office (Sapo) may be stabilising after a rescue management team was appointed and after two unions signed a deal with the company, but it may be a little too late for some businesses.
A group of concerned specialist magazine publishers have had enough. On Friday, they issued a tender for alternative distribution arrangements for their magazines that were previously undertaken by the Sapo.
About 10 publishers have come together to find a way around the service delivery issues caused by lengthy strike at Sapo. They have called on distribution service providers to apply for the tender and have welcomed other publishers as well as other interested business operations to join their group.
Spokesperson for the group, EE Publishers director Chris Yelland, told Fin24 that while he still believed in the future and success of Sapo, he said it was time to set up another way of delivering magazines.
“We should not have to rely on the success of one operator and believe there is room for another service provider,” he said. “The strike has pushed us to the edge. Magazines are already struggling to overcome challenges caused by new technologies, so not being able to deliver our product has a critical effect on our businesses.”
“Even though two unions have agreed to return to work, there are areas like Krugersdorp, where the post office has been so badly vandalised that it will take months to get it back to normal capacity,” he said.
Potential interested magazine distribution service providers are invited to download the tender document and tender for the magazine distribution services detailed. Click here to download the tender document.
Creation of new industry
Yelland said it was hoped that market demand for such alternative delivery arrangements by magazine publishers will encourage the formation of an effective and profitable magazine distribution industry, initially covering the metropolitan areas of every province in South Africa, and then extending to smaller cities and towns throughout the country.
The concerned group of specialist magazine publishers are also lodging a formal complaint in the next few days with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) against Sapo, whom the publishers believe have been in breach of its licence conditions for several years.
‘Sapo must take responsibility’
The group of publishers will be asking Icasa to consider and review its numerous complaints against Sapo and the financial and other damages to the magazine publishing industry caused by their ongoing failure to meet its license conditions, and to sanction Sapo accordingly.
This could include: punitive financial sanctions against Sapo; entertaining alternative license applications to that of Sapo; considering additional licence applications to supplement the activities of Sapo; or even the removal of Sapo's (currently exclusive) licence.
“In terms of the relevant legislation, Icasa is tasked with the monitoring of Sapo to ensure the conditions of its licence are met, and to hear and deal with complaints against the licensee where breaches of license conditions occur,” said Yelland.
Possible class action against Sapo
“This formal complaint to be lodged by the publishers with Icasa is a precursor to a possible class action following the legal process, for damages sustained by the publishers resulting from the failure of Sapo to meet its license conditions. However, before such class action, the publishers will follow all other avenues of due process, which includes the formal complaint to ICASA.
“The attorneys for the group of publishers advise that the delivery of ‘periodicals’ falls outside the ambit of, and is specifically exempted from, both SAPO's licensed activities (Schedule 1 of the Postal Services Act) and delivery services for which registration with ICASA is required (Schedule 2 of the Postal Services Act).
“The definition of a ‘periodical’ is not provided in the Act, but the Oxford English Dictionary definition of ‘periodical’ encompasses magazines that are published periodically. Therefore the magazine publishers believe there are no constraints in making alternative postal or delivery arrangements for their magazines.”
