09 Oct 2022

BotswanaPost is doing its best to use eco-friendly processes to mitigate environmental waste and pollution.

Speaking during the World Post Day Commemoration in Selebi Phikwe on Saturday BotswanaPost Chief Executive for Mr Cornelius Ramatlhakwana said the organisation  had transitioned to packaging and sending letters electronically to recognise the eco-friendliness and the necessity to not pollute the planet.

“In today’s industrialised world, Botswana Post is making efforts to be eco-friendly in the sense that it is digitising or making its platforms technically serving to minimise the use of paper,” he said.

Held under the theme: Post for the Planet, he said this meant that the post recognised the importance of production efficiency and ensured that very scarce resources were being preserved.

BotswanaPost is mandated to provide, develop, operate and manage postal services efficiently and cost-effectively and carry out other operations as well as enter into bilateral agreements with other postal administrations on postal services matters.

Mr Ramatlhakwana further explained that the social protection wage bill was paid by BotswanaPost in a more advanced way, a demonstration that it recognized the importance of planet conservation.

“We used to pay with a voucher which was made of paper from trees. Today we just pay using our fingers. That demonstrates that the post is relevant in terms of preserving the environment,” he said.

He said planet conservation was the reason why they were starting new ways of delivering mail, among them the need to consider using electrified motor cycles to try to diversify how BotswanaPost gave services to Batswana.

Furthermore, he announced that Botshabelo Post which was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic would be opened before the end of the year.

He also made a commitment that BotswanaPost would partner with the local citizen-owned couriers to take services to Batswana, adding that his organization made P62m profit in the last financial year.

“We are doing our best to understand the needs of the nation and at the same time aligning ourselves to the global mandate of the United Nations. We are one of the most innovative, transformative, technically serving organisations in the country,” he said.

He said BotswanaPost was yet to establish a banking facility that was relevant to the needs of Batswana to ensure that they smartly had access to financial services unlike in the commercial banking landscape.

He also implored the community to take care of the environment by avoiding littering and cutting down trees.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communications, Knowledge and Technology Prof. Nelson Torto added that this year’s theme called for the world to embrace a circular economy characterized by elimination of waste and pollution, circulation of products and services at their peak value as well as refocusing efforts on extraction to regeneration.

A circular economy, he said was an important part of reducing climate change, bio-diversity laws, waste and pollution, adding that embracing a circular economy could be initiated by using green energy as the source of power, reducing carbon emissions by using electric vehicles and reducing parcel sizes.

Selebi Phikwe East MP Mr Kgoberego Nkawana encouraged the post sector to continue modernising its services in a way which would help bridge the communication gap and reduce the effects of distances among people.

He also urged BotswanaPost to build a shelter for the elderly people to sit comfortably whilst awaiting to be served at the post office.

World Post day which aims to bring awareness of the role of the Postal sector in the everyday lives of Batswana, businesses as well as its contribution to global social and economic developments, was also marked by holding public speaking and debating competitions targeting school children from primary to senior secondary school.BOPA