diff --git a/package/python-simplegeneric/python-simplegeneric.mk b/package/python-simplegeneric/python-simplegeneric.mk
index 556a478ee1..cc84320428 100644
--- a/package/python-simplegeneric/python-simplegeneric.mk
+++ b/package/python-simplegeneric/python-simplegeneric.mk
@@ -8,7 +8,12 @@ PYTHON_SIMPLEGENERIC_VERSION = 0.8.1
 PYTHON_SIMPLEGENERIC_SOURCE = simplegeneric-$(PYTHON_SIMPLEGENERIC_VERSION).zip
 PYTHON_SIMPLEGENERIC_SITE = https://pypi.python.org/packages/3d/57/4d9c9e3ae9a255cd4e1106bb57e24056d3d0709fc01b2e3e345898e49d5b
 PYTHON_SIMPLEGENERIC_LICENSE = ZPL-2.1
-PYTHON_SIMPLEGENERIC_SETUP_TYPE = distutils
+
+# Force setup-type to be 'setuptools' in order to force the package to
+# be installed with --single-version-externally-managed. Otherwise we
+# end up with a .egg file, which is a zip archive, and as such forces
+# us to have 'zlib' as a runtime dependency
+PYTHON_SIMPLEGENERIC_SETUP_TYPE = setuptools
 
 define PYTHON_SIMPLEGENERIC_EXTRACT_CMDS
 	unzip $(DL_DIR)/$(PYTHON_SIMPLEGENERIC_SOURCE) -d $(@D)