Hon Chairperson, Ministers and Deputy Ministers in this Chamber, hon members, esteemed guests, comrades and friends, and members of the public, the ANC-led government started a profound journey and we will continue to travel on this journey for many more years to come.

The White Paper on Postal Policy was a well thought through policy document which has not faded over time. Today, however, telecommunications and electronic communications provide easier and quicker means of keeping in touch. To a certain extent, such new technologies are serving as substitute for postal communications and, in turn, diminishing the importance of the social function of postal services.

While this might be true, South Africa presents a unique case, however, in the sense that no other country in recent history has experienced such dramatic change in the legal and political context in such a short space of time. Context remains important in the historical sense, as the inequalities that were engineered as a facet of apartheid continue to bedevil the current context. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the disparities in access to ICT in South Africa.

There is no doubt in my mind that post offices throughout the world need to redefine their existence. They must undergo radical change and transformation. The time for "bandage solutions" is gone. This is the time to attend to the situation in a major way.

At the same time, the census by Statistics SA on community preference indicates that although the market position of conventional postal services is declining, many people still just find paper records more reliable and trustworthy. We still believe in letters!

Basic postal services are the right of all citizens. They are essential to the social and economic development of the country. Access to reliable and efficient postal services contributes to the success of development programmes and policies, and also contributes to the dignity and respect of South African citizens. It is important to note that the postal network should link every citizen in the country to a service that they need and wish to use.

So, the postal network allows for the flow of goods, services and payments between economic agents. An efficient postal network sufficiently and significantly reduces transaction costs across the economy, forges markets where they did not exist before, and supports knowledge transfer between those agencies, which allows innovation and growth.

A survey by the World Bank Consultative Group to Assist the Poor indicates that more than 2,9 billion people globally do not have banking services. Access to banking can help to lift people out of poverty by providing ways to such people to bank money and make payments without having to travel very far. These people often come from rural areas and are in the cities, and need to send money home regularly. So, the use of information and communication technology payments helps them to avoid the risks of crime and the costs and hazards of travelling.

Ke mokitlana. [It is credit] [Interjections.]

The postal networks of the SA Post Office also provide financial logistics and e-commerce services to countless customers. Postal services are increasingly moving into the field of electronic services to better meet customers' evolving communication needs. In addition, the world's postal services today process and deliver 381 billion letters and 6 billion parcels annually. They use an awesome worldwide network, linking them together through sophisticated processes and technologies.

In the long term, the SA Post Office is looking to respond to the changed environment by developing the postal service through mail-order services and parcels, as well as other modern postal products, including hybrid mail and registered e-mails, to which the Minister has alluded. The South African Postbank Limited Act provides for the corporatisation of the Postbank division of the SA Post Office as a financial institution, servicing mainly the unbanked society.

This is in line with the National Development Plan, and also the New Growth Path, which notes that an adequate communications environment -

... provides the backbone for a modern economy, and expanding the infrastructure will go together with measures to reduced costs.

To this end, in an effort to provide a wide range of affordable and accessible financial services to the unbanked, the department and the Post Office will expedite the roll-out of Postbank centres and outlets throughout the country.

An adequate communications environment provides the backbone for a modern economy. Therefore, expanding infrastructure will go together with measures to reduce costs. We also know that while urbanisation will continue, a significant part of the population will remain in the rural areas, engaged in the rural economy.

Postal services enhance the efficiency of SMMEs, reduce costs and broaden the market reach both locally and globally. Since SMMEs play a major role in national economies, such benefits to them may collectively translate into positive results in the form of job creation, revenue generation and overall competitiveness of the country.

The postal outlets of the SA Post Office are the largest part of the postal sector. The outlets address the logistical challenges of people living in the underdeveloped areas, improve competitiveness, and overcome the spatial patterns of apartheid. At the same time, they also offer direct employment in operations, such as the need for tellers, maintenance and e-services, whilst new opportunities may emerge to further address existing social equity goals and the ICT inequalities that exist in society.

On the other hand, the SA Post Office is increasing the rural customer base as an alternative drive for socio-economic growth in the rural areas. [Interjections.]