23 Jul 2020

Botswana Unified Revenue Sevice (BURS) is one of the entities most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic regarding revenue targeted to be collected in 2020.

   This was said by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Dr Thapelo Matsheka during a tour of BURS station at Ramokgwebana Border Post on July 22.

 He said the revenue target would not be possible due to the pandemic that led to the closure of some border posts.

Dr Matsheka explained that revenue collection helped develop infrastructure and upgrading of BURS itself as the entity was awarded a percentage of revenue collected to channel into its projects.

The minister stated that the health was the most critical sector right now hence government had channeled most of the resources into it to ensure Batswana were protected from COVID-19.

Minister Matsheka stressed the need for a paradigm shift which  would lead Botswana to produce most commodities locally.

 The pandemic, he said, had exposed the country as an importing nation of commodities needed on a daily basis such as food and fuel.

Government would develop commercial borders across the country in order to monitor trucks and tap into opportunities that accrue from Botswana being a passage for trucking business, he said.

 The minister commended BURS officers stationed at Ramokgwebana for serving Botswana diligently during the COVID-19 pandemic.

   They displayed utmost dedication as frontliners, he said.

Presenting on staff senior customs officer, Mr Owakhile Nkomo requested that routine counselling be offered to officers because they interacted with some truck drivers who tested positive for COVID-19.

He called for fumigation of border facilities in the event  a client tested positive so as to eliminate any possibility of the virus spreading.

Mr Nkomo said due to water shortage in the eastern side of North East District, the border post struggled and depended on water bowsers.

Bowsing water impacted the department budget as vehicles had to be serviced regularly and spending on fuel, he said.

He requested installation of hand wash basins at the border to avoid a situation where customers had to walk all the way to offices without washing hands.

BURS acting commissioner general Mr Segolo Lekau said psycho social counselling would be provided for officers adding that currently the organisation had identified pastors who would spiritual support to officers.

He said in instances where a client tested positive and there was no fumigation, it was critical that office surfaces were cleaned thoroughly at all times.

Mr Lekau said every BURS office had been provided with hand sanitizers adding that they would look into installing water basins at strategic points going forward.

He explained that the water situation was due to reticulation problems from Ntimbale Dam. 

The border post would depend on bowsing until the North East District and Tutume Sub-district water scheme project was complete, he said.

He stated that maintenance of offices were ongoing to address the bad state of the buildings adding that a contractor was on site to upgrade the sewage line. ends