Botswana Post last week strengthened its partnership with the Ministry of Environment Wildlife and Tourism to try and recognize postal monuments in Botswana.
The move is geared at providing opportunity for communities in these areas, to be proud of their history and to identify tourism opportunities around these sites to improve their lives.
 As the organization celebrated the annual World Post day over the weekend in Palapye, the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Kitso Mokaila, who was the guest speaker at the event, said that his Ministry through the Department of National Museum, entered into a partnership with Botswana Post to adopt the three monuments which were used as mail delivery points from as early as 1900.
These are the Motswere tree in Palapye, Baobab tree in Kasane and, lastly, the Mopenwaeng tree in Molepolole.
The Minister lauded Botswana Post saying that ever since it was established in 1885 in Botswana by the London Missionary Society (LMS), the organization has grown in leaps and bounds.
“Botswana Post has transformed over the years and diversified its products and services to address the ever changing needs and expectations,” The Minister said.
He went on to praise the organization, saying that it has continued to provide numerous public services, which have contributed significantly to the socio economic development in Botswana. He said that with 121 post offices, 73 postal agencies and 54 Kitsong Centres across the country, Botswana Post has helped support government initiatives of taking services to the citizens of Botswana such as payments for Old Age Pensioners, World War Veterans, Ipelegeng Scheme employees and even the distribution of the Daily News.
“The Post Office provides some banking services on behalf of the Botswana Savings Bank, thus providing a valuable service to the otherwise unbanked rural community’s cash earnings, which commercial financial institutions are not able to offer,” he said.
He further hailed Botswana Post for bridging the digital divide through Kitsong Centres, which provide services such as internet services, photocopying, printing, binding and other related services to the rural areas. He also said that some of the services that have continued to benefit Batswana are business solutions to companies and the government through products such as express mail service, hybrid mail and permit mail.
“The organization has also adopted modern technologies such as the new automated sorting facility and the International Mail Exchange Centre to improve efficiency,” he said. The event was concluded with the awarding of a prize to a young Motswana, Charlene Tlagae, who won third prize in the Universal Postal Union (UPU) International Letter Writing Competition for Young People in 2011.
