ESWATINI POSTS REALISES NEED TO GO DIGITAL

EZULWINI – For Eswatini Posts to survive, it has recognised the need to embrace the digital revolution and move away from providing services manually and come up with digital systems.

Acting Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC) Managing Director (MD) Lungile Nxumalo said the digital platforms they need to embrace will enable customers to access services without setting foot in postal outlets. Nxumalo was speaking during the commemoration of the World Post Day and Customer Week held at the Royal Villas yesterday.

Celebrating

Yesterday, Eswatini joined 192 members of the universal postal network in celebrating the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) on October 9, 1874. The vision of the founders, through the Treaty of Berne was to establish a single postal territory to serve people everywhere. The World Post Day theme for 2024 is: ‘150 years of enabling communication and empowering people across nations’, which recognises the accomplishments of the union over the 150 years of existence and reinforces its commitment to serve all people for the decades and centuries to come.

She said they have introduced an automation system called PostGlobal that not only records transactions made but is able to integrate with systems of business partners. She said with the help of the Universal Postal Union, they have also established tracking systems that monitor processing and transmission times of posted items, to ensure accountability and good quality of service. She said some of these systems interface with systems key partners like Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) for customs and with Aairlines for processing of mail and parcels.

Launch

“There are two digital projects that EswatiniPost is currently developing and hopes to launch soon which will see the Post expand into the financial inclusion space and also position her as a key player in e-commerce logistics,” said Nxumalo. Nxumalo recognised the need for financial inclusion in the country as a significant number of emaSwati remain unbanked and some have limited access to financial services. Eswatini Post leveraging on her wide distribution network, has partnered with leading financial and insurance institutions to ensure emaSwati in underserved communities have access to financial and insurance services.

She said EswatiniPosta is also extending her money transfer service; Sivininito more services which will include a vibrant cross-border money transfer, and micro-finance.
Nxumalo said with the challenge of decline in mail volumes, which is further expatiated by the challenge of Eswatini being a landlocked country, and dependent on other countries to transmit international mail; EswatiniPost has set up a virtual delivery address in South Africa for e-commerce items. Partnerships are being sought with e-commerce vendors to use EswatiniPost and Phutfumani Couriers to bring in e-commerce items in the country.

She added that EswatiniPost has shown her ability to deliver on the e-commerce mandate by delivering mail articles to all the major towns on a daily basis. “The Post has extended this service to small medium enterprises (SME) through Phatsisa Tsine a service aimed at enabling efficient and affordable delivery of goods. Eswatini is also participating in the UPU project for e-commerce readiness. This project was established to assist developing and least developed countries to get ready for e-commerce and an international level. She further revealed that in a quest to align to international standards, and gain credibility from customers and strategic partners; EswatiniPost has gone through international audits, namely UPU Quality of Service certification and S58 and S59 Postal Security certification. On both audits, the highest grades were obtained, which is the A- Gold Status.

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