Take-out delivery illegal

2003-10-09 16:02

Pietermaritzburg - Before you order your next pizza, think twice. It's now illegal to have a pizza delivered in South Africa.

This is just one of the bizzarre effects of the new Post Office Amendment Bill, which was presented to parliament by the communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and passed on September 11.

It gives the post office and its subsidiaries - Speed Services and XPS - the sole right to transport parcels that weigh under 1kg and leaves no room for any other delivery services to apply for a license to do so.

This means that it would be illegal for pharmacies, for example, to deliver medicine to house-bound patients, or for a romantic to order flowers to be sent to a loved one.

Nor can you get a pizza delivered to your house unless your order weighs more than 1kg.

This would effectively shut down small-scale delivery services and would create thousands of retrenchments.

Wesley Cross, managing director of small, black owned courier firm in Pietermaritzburg, Fast Forward Direct, said that thousands of jobs were at stake.

The effect on bigger delivery services, such as DHL would be equally devastating. Around a third of DHL parcels weigh under 1kg, said DHL's national managing director Andy Baker.

The law effectively gives the post office a monopoly and this is to be the subject of an investigation by the Competition Commission.

The domestic courier industry has formed a lobby group to engage the authorities on these issues and obtain clarity. - African Eye News Service

- African Eye