29 Mar 2021

The issuing of a Visa debit card to social benefits beneficiaries under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is progressing smoothly, says Botswana Savings Bank (BSB) chief executive officer Mr Nixon Marumoloa.  

BSB was recently appointed by the ministry to disburse social benefits for people with disability, the destitute, old age pensioners, and World War II veterans.

The strategic partnership will see beneficiaries issued with the card to enable them to access and withdraw cash at their convenience from BSB or any Visa-compliant Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

Speaking in an interview at Lobatse’s Woodhall Community Centre, Mr Marumoloa said the national target for issuance of the card was 42 000  with 11 000 cards already issued by Friday. 

Mr Marumoloa, who  said a total of 1 600 beneficiaries in Lobatse were scheduled to receive the card, explained he was in town to meet and greet bank staff as well as to interact with beneficiaries. 

“The issuance of cards to beneficiaries in Lobatse commenced on March 8. We are targeting to issue cards to around 1 600 beneficiaries in this town. We will continue the exercise next week in Peleng, and for the whole of April our resources will be on-site to ensure that beneficiaries can actually obtain the cards,” he said.

The BSB chief said the bank leadership  found it proper to witness for themselves that beneficiaries received cards as prescribed.

“We didn’t want to sit in Gaborone and just listen to reports. We also came to engage with the civic leaders like councillors who are always with these beneficiaries in the community,” he added. 

He said close to 700 cards would be issued to beneficiaries in the Good Hope/Mabule area. 

Over 400 cards had already been issued with the exercise expected to be completed in the next few days, he said.

At national level, the exercise had been planned for completion by end of  this month but the completion date has since been revised to the end of April, he said.

 Mr Marumoloa said the intention was to cover at least 80 per cent of the beneficiaries by mid-April.    

“The issuance of these cards will make it easy for beneficiaries to access their benefits anytime and anywhere they would want, not just once in a month. They would be able to get the money from ATMs using the card. It brings up the flexibility to recipients, and also it helps with convenience during these COVID-19 times where social distancing is required,” Mr Marumoloa said.

Under the arrangement, the bank will issue cards to beneficiaries in Mahalapye, Palapye, Serowe, Gaborone, Gabane, Tlokweng, Mogoditshane, Mochudi, Ramotswa, Lobatse, Kanye, Moshupa, Molepolole and Good Hope. Ends