The South African Post Office (SAPO) is still waiting to hear whether it will get its exclusive licence to deliver reserved postal items renewed, and even a yes would not restore its full monopoly on small parcels. That is the position set out in SAPO’s 2025/26 annual report, as BusinessTech reported on 13 October 2026. The report says the licensing outcome and any conditions attached to it remain outstanding, and SAPO flags the uncertainty as a major risk to its turnaround.
The reserved services licence covers letters, postcards, printed matter, small parcels and other postal articles up to 1kg. It gives SAPO the sole legal right to carry them, which is why private couriers and delivery companies have a direct interest in the outcome.
Where the licence stands
SAPO was granted a 25-year reserved postal services licence in 2001. The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies says it expired on 31 March 2025. According to a BusinessTech report from March 2026, SAPO applied to renew it a day before that date and wants another 25 years.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), which has regulated the sector since 2006, said there was “no legislated process on the envisioned renewal” and that it was developing one. The proposed steps are consultation with SAPO, publication of draft licence terms and conditions, public hearings and a published decision.
Law firm Acts.co.za reported that ICASA gazetted a notice in March 2026 calling for written representations by 23 April 2026. It also noted that the notice does not explicitly refer to the Minister’s directive or to the parallel review of SAPO’s exclusivity. The October BusinessTech report says the application has reached the public comment stage.
The small-parcel change
The renewal is running alongside a separate decision by Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi. In December 2025 he used Section 15(3) of the Postal Services Act to amend Schedule 1 and remove “small parcels” from the reserved services. The change has been gazetted, but it still has to be ratified by ICASA.
Until ICASA acts, SAPO’s business rescue practitioners say the exclusivity stays in place. MyBroadband reported in July that Malatsi confirmed ICASA had not yet ratified the change. In replies to parliamentary questions from ANC MP Oscar Mathafa, he said “most of the submissions received were against extending SAPO’s exclusive right to provide reserved postal services.”
According to MyBroadband, respondents pointed to SAPO’s operational and financial problems, which they said stop it from fulfilling its mandate. They also said ICASA has not enforced the reserved-services rules effectively and that many operators encroach on the market without penalty.
BusinessTech notes that even if the licence is renewed, the December 2025 changes to small-parcel terms still apply.
What SAPO says is at stake
SAPO’s business rescue plan counts on parcels. Its mid-2025 business vision projected that courier and parcel services would grow from R38 million in 2024 to R1.4 billion by 2029. The Post Office called the Minister’s directive a “material development” that would remove a revenue source from that plan.
The practitioners said in their 30 June 2026 update, as quoted by MyBroadband, that losing the exclusivity “negatively impacts on the projected revenues”. They had earlier warned that the break-even point would take much longer to reach if the revenue could not be replaced.
Malatsi has taken a different view. Asked about it in July, he said removing the sub-1kg monopoly was not identified as a material driver of SAPO’s sustainability. BusinessTech notes that this sits uneasily with SAPO’s long-standing messaging and with its requests that ICASA enforce exclusivity and fine private companies that encroach on it.
SAPO is also in litigation with the South African Express Parcels Association, Takealot and PostNet Southern Africa, which argue that ICASA’s reading of the reserved-services regulations is wrong, according to MyBroadband. Some commentators quoted there argue that if ICASA fines private couriers, it should also fine SAPO for failing its regulated mail delivery standard for more than 10 years.
The company behind the licence
The licence question comes as SAPO tries to leave business rescue. BusinessTech reported in June that the practitioners, Anoosh Rooplal and Juanito Damons, asked the High Court in Pretoria to declare the rescue plan substantially implemented. For the year to 31 March 2026, SAPO’s revenue rose by R2 million to R1.54 billion, its net loss fell to R71 million from R514 million, and creditor debt dropped from about R8.7 billion to R440 million.
A second R3.8 billion funding tranche, intended for growth, lapsed, and BusinessTech reports that some modernisation work now falls to the shareholder and the new board, whose tenure began on 22 June 2026.
The Post Office’s exclusivity has never been enforced in practice, BusinessTech reported in March, and private couriers have grown into a multi-billion-rand industry in the gap left by its failure to deliver over more than a decade. Both the licence outcome and ICASA’s decision on the small-parcel change are still pending.
Source: BusinessTech.
