Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      MultiChoice: We can’t afford to compete without help

      17 July 2025

      The internet’s weakest link is under the ocean

      17 July 2025

      AI misuse shakes South African courtrooms

      17 July 2025

      Boom gates go hi-tech at South African malls

      17 July 2025

      Megayachts and mansions: the lavish life of 80-year-old Larry Ellison

      17 July 2025
    • World

      Grok 4 arrives with bold claims and fresh controversy

      10 July 2025

      Samsung’s bet on folding phones faces major test

      10 July 2025

      Bitcoin pushes higher into record territory

      10 July 2025

      OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

      10 July 2025

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025
    • In-depth

      The 1940s visionary who imagined the Information Age

      14 July 2025

      MultiChoice is working on a wholesale overhaul of DStv

      10 July 2025

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | Samsung unveils significant new safety feature for Galaxy A-series phones

      16 July 2025

      TCS+ | MVNX on the opportunities in South Africa’s booming MVNO market

      11 July 2025

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025
    • Opinion

      A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

      15 July 2025

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » Post Office launches e-registered mail

    Post Office launches e-registered mail

    By Antoinette Slabbert19 May 2016
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    mail-640

    The Post Office on Wednesday launched an electronic registered mail service. This service is fully compliant with legislative requirements to provide a secure alternative with complete audit trail, to the lawful service of notices by “physical” registered mail.

    It will enable customers to send single or bulk registered mail any time, day or night, from any device wherever they are, and get proof of delivery that will stand up in court, Post Office head of commercial Nkosinati Tolom told stakeholders.

    At R16 per single item mailed, it will be cheaper than its physical counterpart (R25) and could be used for the service of notices (traffic fines) in terms of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto), the National Credit Act (NCA) and e-toll debt.

    Post Office CEO Mark Barnes said embracing new technology is one of the pillars of the new Post Office and e-registered mail is the first of many products that will be brought to market in the process of replicating existing postal services electronically.

    He said the Post Office is the only entity by law allowed to deliver registered mail that is accepted in court. Its clients will now be able to send e-registered mail to recipients all over the world at reduced cost.

    The company will continue to roll out new services, he said. It is the owner of “the last mile” and nobody could replicate the entity’s footprint, especially in rural areas. It will embrace the delivery of parcels ordered by e-commerce as well as banking services and government-related services like the delivery of ID cards and vehicle licences.

    Barnes said in future “you will be able to transact most of your life” at the local Post Office.

    The company is weeks away from raising the capital that will get it onto its feet again, he said.

    Customers will have to register to use the e-registered mail and will receive a digital post box for life with some digital storage upfront and an option to purchase more. The Post Office is still working with partners to bring the cost of storage down.

    There is an Outlook or Lotus Notes plug-in available.

    Recipients will be flagged that registered mail is awaiting delivery and then have to register to ensure that he/she is in fact the intended recipient.

    Customers who send bulk e-registered mail will be billed every seven days, while businesses and individual users can use several upfront payment methods, including credit and debit cards and an electronic wallet that can be topped up.

    The new service has huge financial benefits for entities like the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) that has to serve millions of notices on alleged infringers per annum, since it will be “instant and inescapable”, Barnes said. The RTIA administers the Aarto Act.

    The Post Office is in discussions with roads agency Sanral about this and other services and is close to an agreement, Tolom said. He said the new service will facilitate easy notification of the e-toll demands Sanral sends to road users.

    Barnes said e-registered mail cannot achieve what one cannot achieve in the physical world, but it will be more difficult to hide electronically. “If someone hides forever from email, there is nothing I can do.”

    Andre van Jaarsveldt, CEO of LegalServe, a software service provider specialising in legal document exchange, says the up to 40 000 documents LegalServe sends by registered mail every month, will in future be sent largely by e-registered mail.

    He said the judicial fraternity is conservative, with introductions to technology being met with “slow paced” reaction.

    “Regardless of the introduction of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA), and the recent amendments to the Uniform Court Rules as well as the Magistrates Court Rules legislatively providing for the electronic service of court processes, our courts are slow to embrace this change.”

    Matters are often being dismissed due to non-compliance with procedural aspects of service as well as notification, he said. “This, however, is about to change.

    “The ECTA makes provision that any law, which mandates a person, including a public body and probably a juristic person, to send a document or information by registered or certified post, as we traditionally understand it, is satisfied if such document or information is sent to and registered at the Post Office and sent by the Post Office to the electronic address that the sender provides. That includes, among others, notices in terms of the NCA and Aarto.

    “This accordingly has the potential to completely revolutionise the disenchanted judicial approach toward the technological revolution,” he said.

    With the introduction of e-registered mail the functionality, efficiency and credibility of delivering such notices significantly increases, whilst the cost associated therewith decreases, Van Jaarsveldt said.

    “The inner workings of the system are intricate, yet the outcome is simple: the Post Office receives your electronic notice whilst registering the notice internally. The Post Office then sends the notice to the electronic address of the intended recipient. They guarantee an audit report which may be represented to a presiding officer as substantial evidence that compliance has been met with the provisions of the relevant legislation for which the report is being presented. Over and above this, you can be assured that the excuse of non-delivery cannot be used when such a report is generated.”

    • This article was originally published on Moneyweb and is used here with permission


    Andre van Jaarsveldt LegalServe Mark Barnes Nkosinati Tolom Post Office
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleMTN SA to outspend rivals – again
    Next Article MTN to tackle Cell C in MVNO market

    Related Posts

    TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

    4 July 2025

    Takealot considering mass hiring of former Post Office staff

    3 July 2025

    Zombie SOEs haunt communications sector

    2 July 2025
    Company News

    SA businesses embrace gen AI – but strategy and skills are lagging

    17 July 2025

    Ransomware in South Africa: the human factor behind the growing crisis

    16 July 2025

    Mental wellness at scale: how Mac fuels October Health’s mission

    15 July 2025
    Opinion

    A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

    15 July 2025

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.