by Tech Talk | Dec 6, 2022 | Articles
More than 60 000 vehicle licences have been renewed on the online platform of the South African Post Office (Sapo) since its launch at the beginning of the year.
Sapo attributed its success to the fact that vehicle licences can now be renewed 24/7 from any laptop or smartphone.
“This is a huge bonus for car owners who live in remote areas. It also saves you money. There is no charge if you collect the new licence from a nearby post office, and only R75 for delivery to your address,” the post office said on Monday.
The post office has encouraged vehicle owners to utilise the online renewal service.
“Avoid renewing the licence a day or three before month end. Should there be a slight problem with the paperwork, the month end might pass before the problem is sorted out, and the electronic national administration traffic information system (NaTIS) will automatically add the licensing fee for another month,” the post office said.
The applicant is required to upload the documents that are presented to the teller when a licence is renewed at a post office branch.
To ensure the process is seamless when the application is done online, the following documents should be readily available to be uploaded:
- ID copies must be certified (certification not older than three months).
- The application must be signed.
- Proof of address must not be older than 3 months.
To renew a company-owned vehicle, the following requirements apply:
- The proxy letter must be on the company letterhead and signed by the proxy.
- BRNC form must be attached (this is the Business Register Number form – essentially, it is an ID document for businesses).
- The ID of the proxy must be certified.
- Proof of address of the company must be submitted.
Payment is done safely and securely through Masterpass, which the user can download from the Google Play Store for Android devices and the Apple App Store for Apple devices.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Nov 24, 2022 | Articles
The South African Post Office (Sapo) has encouraged customers who live in remote areas or lead busy lives to make use of its online platform to renew their car licence.
“The organisation launched its online platform for renewing car licences early in 2022 and more than 58 000 motorists have already used it to renew their vehicle licences,” the post office said on Wednesday.
Transactions for the car renewal platform can be done at any time on any device.
“It also saves you money. There is no charge if you collect the new licence from a nearby post office, and only R75 for delivery to your address,” the post office said.
Payment is done safely and securely through Masterpass, which the user can download from the Google Play Store for Android devices and the Apple App Store for Apple devices.
The service is available for vehicle owners in all provinces of South Africa except, the Western Cape. The post office is working to extend the service to this province as well.
“The renewal service at selected post office branches remains available. Customers who renew a vehicle licence at a post office branch pay the licence renewal fee and leave with the new disc immediately.
“The post office also offers bulk motor vehicle licence renewal for fleet operators and businesses. This entails the collection of all necessary documentation from company premises, taking them back to the post office for processing, printing of the discs and delivery back to the offices of the customer,” Sapo said.
To renew a car license online customers need the following:
- ID copies must be certified (certification not older than 3 months)
- The application must be signed
- Proof of address must not older than 3 months.
To renew a company-owned vehicle, the following requirements apply:
- The proxy letter must be on the company letterhead and signed by the proxy.
- BRNC form must be attached (this is the Business Register Number form – essentially, it is an ID document for businesses).
- The ID of the proxy must be certified.
- Proof of address of the company must be submitted.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Nov 18, 2022 | Articles
The South African Post Office (Sapo) wants a R3.4 billion bailout from the government to cover its cash flow deficit and fund the implementation of its turnaround strategy.
Sapo said it requires R1 billion of the funding before 31 March 2023 to help with its cash flow issues, while the remaining R2.4 billion will be used to implement its “Post Office of Tomorrow” strategy.
The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies’ deputy director-general of state-owned enterprise oversight, Omega Shelembe, presented Sapo’s funding requirements at a joint meeting of parliament’s finance and communication & digital technologies committees.
The R2.4 billion for Sapo’s turnaround strategy is required for its implementation during the 2023/24 financial year.
Shelembe indicated that discussions with the National Treasury suggest that Sapo will receive the funding.
“There have been ongoing engagements between the Department, National Treasury, and Sapo on the requirement for funding assistance,” he said.
“These engagements created a reasonable expectation that the funding will be availed to Sapo.”
Shelembe also gave details of Sapo’s liabilities as of 30 September 2022, which total R8.2 billion — R3.2 billion of this is owed to Postbank. The remaining R5 billion comprises Sapo’s liabilities to creditors.
“The idea here is that it is not the responsibility of government to bail out the Post Office to meet the entirety of its liabilities,” he said.
“But the Post Office should add to its revenue through the implementation of the strategy, and then utilise those revenues (sic) to settle its liabilities over a period of time.”
Shelembe explained that the Post Office is projected to transition into a profit-making entity in the third year of the strategy’s implementation.
The “Post Office of Tomorrow” strategy involves digitising Sapo to bring it up-to-date with technological developments in the postal sector.
The entity’s CEO, Nomkhita Mona, said it could unlock Sapo’s e-commerce space, financial technology, logistics capabilities, and courier and freight potential.
However, she acknowledged that the Post Office wouldn’t meet its statutory obligations without a government bailout.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Nov 7, 2022 | Articles
Telkom has threatened to cut off communications services to the South African Post Office (Sapo) over an outstanding debt of over R225 million.
Sapo CEO Nomkhita Mona warned Telkom’s enterprise service division BCX that such a development could jeopardise the payment of social grants to around 10 million South Africans.
Sources at the state-owned postal company reportedly told Sunday Times that it had to make an “emergency” payment this past week to avoid its Telkom-sourced services going offline.
Telkom has been providing the Post Office with communication services as part of a R960-million contract that started in August 2014 and is set to expire in December 2022.
While the Post Office’s executives want the contract to be extended, the Sapo board wants it to be terminated and an open and competitive tender bidding process to be launched for a new provider.
Sunday Times has seen correspondence between BCX, Sapo, and the office of communications minister Khumbodzu Ntshavheni, in which it lambasted Sapo’s failure to pay for products and services rendered to date.
“Sapo defaulted on the payment plan on many occasions despite your [Ntshaveni’s] intervention at some stage and several reminders and correspondence to comply with the payment plan,” said BCX CEO Jonas Bogoshi.
Bogoshi originally gave Sapo until 30 September 2022 to pay off the debt, but it appears that Telkom only threatened action this week.
In addition to the R225 million, Sapo has to pay R30 million every month to Telkom until the end of the contract.
Sapo has disputed the R225 million figure.
Mona said it had not been included in the payment agreements signed by the Post Office and questioned how Telkom quantified the amount.
She also said Sapo had obtained a legal opinion which suggested the contract and its accompanying agreements were illegal as the correct procurement processes were not followed when the contract was awarded.
Additionally, Mona said the suspension of services did not form part of the specific rights and remedies of an aggrieved party in the case of breach of contract.
Despite receiving billions in bailouts for several years, the Post Office is in deep financial distress.
In its latest annual results for the 2020/2021 financial year, it reported a loss of R2.3 billion — R469 million more than in the previous year.
The entity has been unable to pay rent, electricity, and water at several branches, leading to several landlords shuttering Post Office premises.
It has also failed to pay hundreds of millions in employees’ medical aid, pension, and income tax contributions.
Koos Benadie, director at Pretoria-based law firm Barnard Inc., has warnedthat this could lead to Sapo directors facing criminal charges.
According to the Financial Services Laws General Amendment Act 45 of 2013, which took effect in 2014, deducting employee contributions without paying them to the relevant service provider is a criminal offence.
Benadie argued that Sapo’s directors could be held liable in civil and criminal capacity for non-payment of the pension fund and medical aid contributions.
Mona recently revealed one of the major reasons for Sapo’s financial quagmire was that it carried half the cost of providing government’s social relief of distress (SRD) grants at its branches.
The grant was introduced to provide financial relief to South Africans hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, but has continued to be offered despite economic activity returning to normal.
“I don’t know how many South Africans know this, [but] the Post Office has been subsidising the government in the delivery of the [SRD] grants,” Mona said.
“Our cost of delivering that service over the counter is just over R30. What we were being paid by Sassa was R15. Nobody runs a business like that.”
The Post Office’s annual report for 2022 said it processed 15.2 million grants to beneficiaries during the 2021/22 financial year.
That means the Post Office paid around R228 million out of its own funds during the financial year to cover the costs.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Oct 19, 2022 | Articles
The South African Post Office (Sapo) has encouraged the public to make use its services for the collection of chronic medication from their branches.
“The service is aimed at patients who live or work closer to a post office [instead of] a government clinic. The main benefit of the service is longer service hours. Post office branches are open until 5pm on weekday and until 12:30pm on Saturday,” Sapo said on Tuesday.
The collection service is available at 342 post offices in all provinces except the Western Cape.
These post offices were selected because they comply with the requirements of the Department of Health.
Sapo said medication that requires specialised storage, such as cold storage, cannot be collected from one of their branches.
“Patients of government clinics, who would like to collect their medication from their local post office, should arrange it with their clinic. The Department of Health sends the patient a SMS when the medication is ready for collection and patients have 14 days to collect it before the medication is returned to the Department of Health,” Sapo said.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
