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The Southern Africa Postal Operators Association (SAPOA) says postal services across the region are embracing digital transformation and e-commerce opportunities to remain relevant amid declining traditional mail volumes.
SAPOA Chairman, Maxwell Chitendeni, said postal operators in Southern Africa had been significantly affected by the rapid growth of information and communication technologies (ICTs), which have reduced the use of traditional mail services.
“The custodian of mail, and as post offices, we have seen mail going down due to the introduction of ICTs, the emails, the electronics, and this has actually disrupted the way post offices were,” Chitendeni said in an interview on Monday in Chilanga.
However, he said postal operators had accepted the changing landscape and were now leveraging technology as a tool for innovation and growth.
Chitendeni cited Zimbabwe as an example, where a virtual post office had been developed, allowing customers to access postal services remotely and interact with artificial intelligence-powered chatbots.
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“You are able to navigate the post office in the comfort of your home. You are also able to see a chatbot that can interact with you using AI and transact from the comfort of your home,” he said.
He said SAPOA, working with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), was implementing two major projects aimed at strengthening postal services across the region.
The first project was the establishment of a regional training centre for postal operators, while the second is the development of a regional logistics hub to support the growing e-commerce sector.
Chitendeni said the rise in online shopping had created new opportunities for postal operators, particularly in last-mile delivery services.
“A lot of people are now buying online. But whatever you buy online, the last thing is that product must move to your doorstep. This is why, as postal organisations, we are saying we are the experts on the last-mile delivery,” he said.
He explained that the proposed regional hub would serve as a central distribution point for goods entering Southern Africa before being redistributed to individual countries through national postal networks.
According to Chitendeni, the hub would enable member countries to negotiate collectively with global e-commerce platforms and logistics providers, thereby benefiting from economies of scale.
“If we sign with Alibaba as SADC, every consignment meant for Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Seychelles and others would be dropped at the regional hub. It is that regional hub that then redistributes that,” he explained.
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