12 Dec 2023

The DailyNews paper is accessed through digital platforms for ease of accessibility. 

“Currently, DailyNews is distributed through PDF format to various WhatsApp groups across the country. Furthermore, the PDF copy can be downloaded from the DailyNews website, https://dailynews.gov.bw, said Minister for State President, Mr Kabo Morwaeng. 

Mr Morwaeng, who was answering a question without notice from Palapye MP Mr Onneetse Ramogapi, in Parliament, Monday,  explained that DailyNews distribution was currently outsourced to the BotswanaPost and Courier Junxion, trading as Mogaka Pty Limited. 

The two, he said alternated to distribute the paper every six months. 

BotswanaPost is a state-owned enterprise wholly owned by the government of Botswana and governed by a board of Directors while Mogaka Pty Ltd is 100 per cent owned by a citizen director, Mr Morwaeng said. He said prior to engagement of BotswanaPost and Mogaka in 2018, the Department of Information Services invited courier companies to bid for a three-year contract to distribute the DailyNews to 544 places countrywide. Mr Morwaeng said the tender was won by Majestic Carriers, having quoted a lower price of P 41 287 680. 

He said the contract was to run from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2021,but was terminated due to non-performance. 

He said the company was currently suing the department claiming unfair termination, a matter which was before the courts of law. 

Minister Morwaeng emphasised that publication and distribution of the DailyNews was a critical service as such the department had no choice but to appeal to BotswanaPost to assist with the delivery of the newspaper. 

In the meantime, Mr Morwaeng said the department published an Expression of Interest (EOI) inviting courier companies to distribute the paper to 544 places. 

He also added that BotswanaPost and Sprint Couriers were short listed but due to budgetary constraints the department had to reduce the number of targeted places to 134. 

“All the couriers who had submitted their bids for the EOI were invited as this was a new tender as per the advice of the Ministerial Tender Committee (MTC). The tender was closed in June 2020. BotswanaPost was recommended for award,” he said. 

However, Mr Morwaeng said BotswanaPost had not been awarded the tender yet because one of the bidders, Mogaka Pty Ltd queried their loss and the matter was with the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority. 

Mr Morwaeng said the Department of Government Printing and Publishing Services (GPPS) had been responsible for printing the DailyNews since 2009/2010 financial year to date. 

“Prior to that, the paper was printed by the Publishing and Printing Company Botswana (PPCB) and Dikgang Printing and Publishing on different occasions following their successful bids to print the paper,” he said. Mr Morwaeng said the quantities produced have fluctuated from year to year starting from 80 000 copies at 32 pages to 40 000 copies at 24 pages and current 20 000 copies at 16 pages. 

He said the reasons for the decrease in the DailyNews printed copies and the number of pages were due to substantial increase in the printing costs, particularly following the outbreak of COVID-19. Mr Morwaeng said the annual cost of printing DailyNews was currently more than P40 million. The minister said BotswanaPost was engaged on a six months contract from September 2023 to February 2024 to distribute 40 000 copies of the DailyNews to 155 places country wide where there were post offices and postal agencies at the value of P7 985 552. 82, which translated to P 1 330 925. 50 per month. He said late or no delivery of the DailyNews paper at some constituencies was attributed to non-performance of the service provider. 

“My ministry has engaged with the service provider and issued a warning regarding consistent failure to deliver,” he said. 

Mr Ramogapi had asked the minister to state the total pages of the DailyNews paper, quantity of copies produced per day in the last 20 years, current pages produced and quantity produced per day as well as cause for the decrease. 

Mr Ramogapi also wanted to know the total amount paid to the contractor per month or per service, stating specifications of the contract, reasons behind late delivery or non-delivery of the newspaper as well as action that will be taken to ensure that the DailyNews paper arrives at constituencies in good quality, quantity and within proper cost. ends