NZPIL Wins South African Post Office Contract

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 16 JULY 1999

New Zealand Post International Limited (NZPIL) has won the strategic management partnership contract for the South African Post Office (SAPO). The multi-million-dollar SAPO contract is the largest postal contract ever tendered internationally and has been subject to an intensive bid and evaluation process run by the South African Government since July 1998.

The SAPO contract will run for three years.

"Winning the SAPO contract confirms New Zealand Post's reputation as the global benchmark in postal services," New Zealand Post Chief Executive Elmar Toime said today.

"Under the strategic management partnership contract, NZPIL will provide key executives to turn around SAPO's operational and financial performance, eliminating the need for government subsidies.

"Our first objective will be to arrest declining mail volumes and market share. We will work to restore the confidence of the South African public in their postal system by providing a trustworthy and quality service."

Mr Toime said a new organisational structure would be introduced providing a platform to improve SAPO's compliance with South Africa's affirmative action programme.

"NZPIL will also undertake an aggressive address expansion programme providing four million new addresses in townships and other historically underprivileged areas over a three year period.

"SAPO's technology will be upgraded and New Zealand-developed postal systems and products will be introduced. The first of these improvements will be the introduction of the Post-Link system which supports all transactions, such as BillPay, at the front counter of our Post Shops.

"We also plan to establish an international mail hub in Johannesburg, positioning SAPO to expand its services to the rest of Africa."

Mr Toime said 78 New Zealand Post staff would be seconded to work in South Africa in the first six months of the contract, many will be taking their families.

NZPIL has contracted Britain's Royal Mail, Lockheed Martin from the United States and Deloitte & Touche Consulting to play supporting roles in the SAPO contract.

The SAPO contract follows NZPIL's earlier successful bid for a five-year contract to manage the Trinidad and Tobago postal system and a management contract with the Botswana postal service which commenced on 1 April.

ENDS

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: New Zealand Post International Limited (NZPIL), NOT New Zealand Post, has won the SAPO contract.

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