09 Oct 2016

Government is committed to creating an enabling environment for the survival of the postal sector in Botswana, says the chairperson of Botswana Post Service Group Mr Ogaketse Mathware.

Mr Mathware said this during the commemoration of the World Post Day and the official opening of Mookane Post Office in Mookane on Friday  (October 7) under the theme: Serving a New Society; Delivering Beyond your Doorstep.

The country celebrated World Post Day, two days ahead of the designated international day which was yesterday ( October 9).

He said government encouraged parastatals to be efficient and agile with service delivery, as they did not only provide service for profit making. “They also have a social responsibility and obligation to ensure that the required services reach Batswana,” he said.

He noted that Botswana Post was doing very well in delivering on the payments for pensioners, Ipelegeng workers, renewal of vehicle license registration, water payments and pre-paid electricity.

He said there was need to celebrate the role of the ‘Post Office’ in the lives of Batswana especially its contribution in the socio-economic development of the country.

He noted that as the theme indicates, they were serving a new society, whereby their postal customers today were different from the customer of some year ago and their needs were changing rapidly.

He explained that during the financial year 2015/16, government supported the National Addressing and Post Code Project referred to as mail home delivery pilot project in Block 7 and 8 in Gaborone.

The mail home delivery pilot service commenced in July 2016 and the pilot project was expected to run for 12 months. The pilot project would involve participation of commercial entities such as Water Utilities, Councils and the private sector to send mail through this service,” he said.

He said the service would be delivered to 6 240 households in the two areas and government has disbursed P4.7 million towards procurement of post boxes for Block 7 and 8.

He said the 2012 Communications Regulatory Act culminated in the provision of Universal Postal Services for Batswana and that this would be carried out by a Designated Postal Operators operating with a Public Postal Operator licence.

He noted that the regulator issued licenses to courier companies and Botswana Post and this marked an important milestone as they celebrate this year.

He said it was against this background that Botswana Post was granted a Public Postal Operator licence in 2014 by Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority.

He said in doing so, government disbursed P40 Million towards meeting Universal Service Obligation for the financial year 2015/16.

He explained that part of the Universal Service Obligation funds were reserved for refurbishment of four post offices in Bokspits, Mookane, Serowe and Mahalapye and construction of two post offices in Shoshong and Tshesebe to the tune of P13.Million.

He said as they ponder on the future of the post office people should be aware of the world trends regarding the advantage of the post.

He said the future of the post was expected to embrace postal financial inclusion for the under-served communities of Botswana.

The newly built Mookane Post Office was re-constructed after the former structure burnt down some two years ago. He said the post office has been built with approximately P1, 548, 116, noting that it was a modern post office with four counters, with one dedicated for paraplegic customers and one for parcel transfer.

He said the post office also has improved security features including access control, improved air conditioning as well the branch manager’s office and a spacious banking hall.

For his part, Botswana Post CEO Mr Cornelius Ramatlhakwane said the 2016 theme talked to the post office by discovering and exploring different and innovative channels of delivering services, expanding their service delivery channels and the need to ensure wider accessibility to all citizens to the post office.

Mr Ramatlhakwane said they have identified the following areas of action being service, society, delivery and beyond.

That is why as Botswana Post, we have been working on business operations scan and remodeling our business into the value Centre model, investing in empowering people and focusing on increasing customer facing staff through decentralization and creation of more regional centres,” he said.

He said they have also increased delivery channels by building and refurbishing post offices and going beyond creating and increasing value added services through virtual post offices, financial services, the Botswana Post App, the partnerships for innovative service delivery in Pension disbursement and the home delivery project. ENDS