DEPOT IN SA TO EASE COURIER EFFICIENCY

MBABANE – In an effort to promote online business, Eswatini Post and Telecommunications (EPTC) has sourced a depot facility to assist local businesses and individuals send and receive their parcels.

The depot is located in Johannesburg, South Africa and parcels will be transported by EPTC through Phutfumani Couriers and freight. When purchasing online from Eswatini, there was a challenge of a depot that would receive parcels on behalf of the buyers. Some customers opted to use South Africa as their depot then procure land transport services to reach Eswatini thereafter, which created another challenge of safety for the parcels and EPTC attested to have received numerous cases on products purchased online not reaching their destination.

Majority

A majority of online shopping sites do not have a courier or a depot in Eswatini, which means some online purchases made in Eswatini are received through neighbouring South Africa and Mozambique. Business in import and export trade to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) region can also transport their products through Phutfumani Couriers and freight. Individuals who purchase items online overseas can also use the EPTC depot as their destination and Phutfumani Couriers and freight will then transport it to Eswatini.

Phutfumani Couriers and Freight services  is a domestic and international delivery service, that caters for courier, freight, customs clearing and warehousing needs of corporates; small to medium sized businesses and walk-in individuals. Speaking during the launch of the Phutfumani Couriers Virtual Delivery, EPTC Managing Director (MD) Themba Khumalo, said the service was aimed at making it easier for clients to order items online from any parts of the world.  He said the service would offer more benefits to their clients.

“This means if you are buying something across the border and in the future, buying it from anywhere in the world, you will use our address for the Republic of South Africa depot we acquired,” he said. Khumalo mentioned that this would save a number of issues and your parcel would be guaranteed delivery 48 hours later.  The MD added that the services would also ensure safety for SACU imports and exports, and consumers would not be taxed beyond the services.

Efficient

One of the exporters to the SACU region, Vusumuti Matsebula said the courier needed to be efficient, as time was a factor to their business. He said one of their challenges this year was delivering their products on time due to disturbances caused by unrest in both Eswatini and South Africa.“This would be helpful to our business because transport is an issue when exporting and safety is imperative,” he added.

Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg said SACU receipts were expected to rebound and average over E7 billion in the medium-term. He said in the 2023/24 financial year, SACU was expected to grow by 67.2 per cent to E9.66 billion from E5.8 billion, followed by E7.09 billion in 2024/25 and E7.12 billion in 2025/26, assuming some of the SACU receipts were put in the proposed SACU Stabilisation Fund.  “In tandem to that, total domestic tax collection is expected to increase over the medium-term by an average six per cent, amounting to E12.98 billion in 2023/24 followed by E14.95 billion in 2024/25 and E14.81 billion in 2025/26,” he said.

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