In a bid to close the communicationgap between ruraland urban communities aswell as improving services forall, BotswanaPost last week offi -cially opened a modernized postoffi ce in Hukuntsi Post Offi ce.Speaking in an exclusive interviewwith Gazette Business,the head of Property at BotswanaPost,Booster Nkomba saidthat the construction of the postoffi ce cost P2.4 million. Governmentcontributed P1 million andBotswanaPost topped up withP1.4 million.“This project was born out ofa decision we took after the Ministry(of Transport and Communications)availed P3 million forthe Hukuntsi, Letlhakeng andGumare pilot projects to offertechnology services to Batswanathrough the Kitsong Centres.The ministry’s decision was toinvest P1 million in each project.
The pilot project was doneby the Botswana TechnologyCentre (BOTEC) and the idea ofthe Kitsong Centres was to provideinternet facilities to communitiesin rural areas in orderfor them to market and sell theirproducts through the internet.And as BotswanaPost with ourcourier services we help themship their products to their customers,”he said.Nkomba further said thatwhen the project was completed,it was declared successfuland the Ministry enrolled it outthrough Botswana Post. “Whenthe funds of P3 million wereavailed by the Government wedecided to take an opportunityto refurbish our three structures.At the time the approach was tobuy a portable cabin and attach itto an existing structure of a postoffi ce. Instead of attaching wedecided to top up and incorporateKitsong Centre in the mainstructure and at the same timeaddress other issues of our facilitysuch as enhancing the securityof the structure.
The buildinghas bulletproof doors and counters,integrated security systemfor surveillance, access controlas well as sanitary facilities forthe public, people with specialneeds including the elderly,”he added.Speaking on behalf ofMTC minister Nonofo Molefhiat the offi cial opening, theChief Executive Offi cer of BotswanaCommunications RegulatoryAuthority (BOCRA),Thari Pheko said the new modelpost offi ce was unique for a ruralsetting as it was designed toa banking standard because ofthe provision of an automatedteller machine (ATM), integratedsecurity systems, bulletproofcounters and technical securitysystems.“We continue to take servicesto Batswana through the postoffi ce. Some of the services alreadyenjoyed by both the ruraland urban communities includepayment of social benefi ts,Ipelegeng, sale of the prepaidelectricity, payment of waterbills as well as the recent roll outof the renewal of vehicle licensesto all post offi ces around thecountry.
As we are working tirelesslyto bring the e-governmentservices to Batswana, we arealready confi dent that the postoffi ce will be able to serve asour local terminal point for theseservices with the uptake of thelatest technology by the organi-zation,” he said.For her part, board member ofBotswanaPost, Hilda Mocuminyane-Rabashwa said two years agoBotswanaPost adopted an icon ofexcellence strategy premised onthree themes of business growth,operational effi ciency and serviceexcellence in which they have beenaccelerating diversifi cation of productsand services for revenue growth,modernizing their infrastructure aswell as transforming their ways of doingbusiness.
The post offi ce which currentlyemploys eight people will be servingresidents of Hukuntsi who have beenaccessing services at Ghanzi and Jwanengas well as surrounding villages whichinclude Lehututu, Tshane and Inalegoloamong others.One of the Hukuntsi residents, GakeleganeMoruwe, in an interview said theyhad been looking forward to the openingof a post offi ce in their village becausethey used to travel to other places to accessservices. “We really thank Botswana-Post, our lives were not getting any easier.We now have a landmark and a facelift aswell as the banking services we have beenseeking closer to us,” she said.