BACKGROUND

On 31 March 2020, the Botswana President announced the declaration of a national state of emergency as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. At the time, and apart from its potential health threat, little was known of the virus nor the degree of impact it would have on the world. 

Since then, and in the year that has followed, the Coronavirus has become a global health crisis and profoundly affected individuals, communities, businesses and governments alike. The virus also affected our familial relationships, our social interactions, our mobility and the way in which we worship. Indeed, it has been a devastating time for both lives and livelihoods. 

LOCKDOWNS

Whilst Kganya Botswana and Botswana Life continued operating throughout the nationwide lockdowns, religious gatherings such as those held at ZCC Church branches on a weekly basis were prohibited. This resulted in detrimental consequences for Pukwana ya Kganya policyholders in that the ban on Church services meant that customers were for some time unable to pay their monthly Contributions and Premiums in cash at their Church branches.

SUPPORTING PUKWANA YA KGANYA POLICYHOLDERS

Kganya Botswana was created with the main purpose of developing and servicing insurance related products within ZCC in Botswana. Pukwana ya Kganya was established at the behest of His Grace Bishop Dr BE Lekganyane and offered to members to reduce financial stress in unforeseen situations. In the case of Pukwana ya Kganya, this relates to death and permanent disability. Policyholders in Good Standing covered under this policy should always have the comfort of knowing that they will be secure in their time of utmost need. 

Given the uncertainty that has prevailed over the past year and indeed the uncertainty surrounding the future of the pandemic, we believe that Kganya Botswana’s mandate has never been more important.

We wish to categorically confirm that Kganya Botswana and Botswana Life have and will continue to take all necessary steps to ensure that their operations remain uninterrupted and that policyholders will continue to have access to the Benefits available under this product. Kganya firmly intends delivering on its commitment to His Grace and the ZCC congregation at large.

We therefore take this opportunity to advise policyholders of the following initiatives that have been undertaken by ZCC, Kganya Botswana and Botswana Life over the past year. These initiatives have been executed not only to ensure the continuous provision of related services but also to Treat Customers Fairly during these difficult times.

• • KGANYA BOTSWANA SERVICE CENTRES
    Botswana Life branches and Kganya Botswana Service Centres have and will continue to remain open during office hours. Policyholders and their beneficiaries are advised to submit all Pukwana ya Kganya claims for assessment and not to withhold any claims because of any previously missed payments.
    

• • KGANYA BOTSWANA SERVICE CENTRE MANAGERS
    Our Kganya Botswana Service Centre Managers remain available to all policyholders on the following numbers. This for the purposes of handling any product or claim related queries. Please note that our Service Centre Managers may experience higher than normal call volumes.       

    Gaborone:	+267 319 0139
    Francistown:	+267 242 1004
    Selibe Phikwe:	+267 261 0046

• • PUKWANA YA KGANYA CONTRIBUTIONS AND PREMIUM PAYMENT
    As mentioned previously, religious gatherings such as those held at ZCC Church branches on a weekly basis were prohibited. However, and thanks to the enormous efforts by His Grace and the ZCC Church Council, policyholders were allowed to resume payment of their monthly Contributions and Premiums at their Church branches from September 2020. You should at that time have recommenced your monthly Pukwana ya Kganya payments in the normal course as not doing so may jeopardise your Good Standing from that point onwards. You are also urged to abide by COVID-19 protocols when attending your local Church branch for the purposes of making monthly payments.

    Kindly note that future arrangements regarding possible Church service gatherings are a Church related matter and you will be advised by your Church Committees accordingly. Kganya cannot intervene in these matters in any way.

• • PUKWANA YA KGANYA CONTRIBUTIONS AND PREMIUMS
    Understandably, customers were concerned that insurance Benefits would not be available at time of possible claim due to forced non-payment of their Pukwana ya Kganya Contributions and Premiums at Church branches during the period April 2020 to August 2020.Payment Holidays were then instituted by ZCC, Kganya Botswana and Botswana Life to ensure that no existing Pukwana ya Kganya policyholder would be prejudiced as a result of being unable to pay Contributions or Premiums at their Church branch during this period. Furthermore, there was no need for any policyholder to “back pay” missed April 2020, May 2020, June 2020, July 2020 or August 2020 Contributions and Premiums.This temporary relief was seen as a way of assisting the many loyal customers that have supported Kganya over the years.  Importantly, the above-mentioned payment Holidays only applied to the period from April 2020 to August 2020 and would not apply to any future circumstances that may impact customer payment abilities.

We wish you peace, safety and good health during this time and trust that these measures have been of some relief to you.
Finally, our thoughts and prayers are with those members of Zion Christian Church that have been negatively affected by the pandemic in any way.