dyton mupawaenda
Ivan Zhakata-Herald Correspondent
POSTAL and courier services operators are concerned about the sprouting of informal service providers popularly known as “runners” in the sector who have taken over their delivery services.
The coming in of runners has reportedly seen a major decline in the operations of courier services as they are reported to be cheaper than registered operators.
Speaking during a postal and courier services sector stakeholder engagement meeting with the Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Dr Tatenda Mavetera at the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) headquarters, the operators said the influx of informal players in the industry was negatively impacting on their business.
United Parcel Services managing director Mr Patrick Karodza said for the sector to prosper, there was need to formalise these informal operators.
“We are hitting a big snag as far as the informal players are concerned. We have a lot of informal players in the sector and they are affecting our operations. Some of them operate as a one-man band (runner) and they are affecting the licences that we are paying to the regulator at the end of the day.
“I think informal players should be invited, registered and formalised so that we create a level playing field. The other challenge that we are facing is access to remote areas. We also need to quicken the clearance at the airport so that we can get the parcels to our clients in the shortest time,” he said.
Mr Godfrey Chigunduru from FedEx echoed the same sentiments and said informal players were hindering progress in the postal and courier services sector.
“When a parcel comes into the country it must be cleared within the shortest possible time to enhance our operations. There is also a need to revive the train services so that we can send our parcels overnight using trains. We also need to have offices at the airport so that we can handle our parcels timeously.”
Postmaster-General Mr Maxwell Chitendeni said they have 519 outlets countrywide and they can serve 18 000 people at each post office.
“To counter the informal players, we are looking at a global post model because we have been running on the same post service for 100 years. We expect to see the technological and digitisation of ZimPost through smart partnerships. We also want to be the hub of e-government services and we expect cross-sectional engagements with Ministries and continuous support from the regulator.
DHL director Ms Susan Katsukunya concurred with her counterparts and said informal players we stalling the development of their sector.
“The problems of the informal players have always been a challenge and we hope that it will be resolved as soon as possible.
“People have now been digitised and almost everything is being done online from ordering of goods to purchasing. But who delivers those parcels? It is us in the courier service sector. We need to work together to grow as a postal and courier services industry.”
Minister Mavetera said the ministry engaged operators in the postal and courier services sector.
“We do not need to leave anyone behind and we also need to come up with strategies to make sure that they digitalise and to give them the policy direction, what we expect from them, and for them to also tell us what we can do as a Ministry to enhance their work,” she said.
“It is important for us to be able to promote them so that they can be able to realise what is limiting them to do their best. There are also some limitations that they have which are on the technological side of things and we are coming up with innovative technology which can best enhance their work.”
Online Reporter