Chairperson, I rise to express the support of the IFP for the SA Post Office SOC Ltd Bill. Indeed, when the Bill was passed by the Portfolio Committee on Communications, it received the unanimous support of all parties present, but even though that was the case, we felt that it was important for the parties to be given an opportunity to express themselves on the Bill. This is in view of the fact that the passage of this Bill is a matter of significant historical importance not only for the Post Office itself but for the country as a whole.
Developments in the industry have necessitated the separation of the postal services from the telecommunications sector. Further reforms in the sector extended the mandate of the Post Office to include the use of information and communication technology infrastructure, as well as the offering of services other than the traditional postal services.
However, this created a situation where the Post Office was not governed by a single Act but by a variety of pieces of legislation promulgated at different stages and not only focusing on the provision of the core postal services that the Post Office was supposed to deliver to the South African public. This then necessitated a new piece of legislation which would provide a comprehensive legal framework addressing corporate governance of the Post Office in a single Act focusing on the Post Office as a legal entity, which this Bill before this National Assembly does.
Now that we have given the Post Office a new, up-to-date legislative framework within which to operate, we hope that it will be possible for the Post Office to live up to the imperatives of transformation and the expectations of particularly the poorest of the poor by extending its services especially to underserviced areas of our country in order to effectively contribute towards the alleviation of poverty.