The South African Post Office (SAPO), still not a bastion of good service, has come a long way from the dinosaur postal operator it was back in 1994. Today, SAPO has amalgamated the old homeland post offices, given bank accounts (and payment security) to social grant pensioners (paying out over R500 000 in 2010), enabled over 1,4 million South Africans to renew their motor vehicle licences last year and provides banking services to six million customers.

It has a fully-fledged logistics arm, something CIO Justin White says is a little-known fact, and presents an untapped opportunity for the Post Office, which has plans to turn it into an entity that can compete with the major players in the freight and cargo space, not just courier services. White needs to deliver on the Post Office Postbank vision first, however.