The Presidential Hotline provides an appeal mechanism for citizens whose complaints have not been attended to satisfactorily by other spheres of government or departments. The government wanted to establish a culture of taking citizens seriously, and putting them first in its work.
President Jacob Zuma undertook to update the public from time to time with regards to the performance of the Hotline. Since its formation, the Hotline has done much to promote government responsiveness and accountability.
It has received a large volume of calls, indicating both the need for such a service and the eagerness of South Africans to interact with government. Through this service, hundreds of people have managed to have problems attended to and resolved, and it has set a new trend with regard to citizen care.
The President received complaints relating to the following:
* Municipal services - electricity, sanitation, housing, water supply, sanitation.
* Labour: unfair labour practices, dismissals.
* Housing shortages, delays and corruption in the system.
* Land claims delays and failure to resolve them.
* Complaints by victims of crime, persons requesting pardons.
* Poverty relief assistance.
* Financial services: complaints about banks, insurance companies.
* Complaints about parastatals.
* Alleged breach of contracts by government departments, for example departments failing to pay for services rendered or paying late.
* Requests for funding for bursaries, community projects, donations, business projects.
* Complaints from political parties especially the Democratic Alliance.
While the Hotline has been successful in resolving enquiries, the response of some government Departments and Provinces to enquiries has been far from satisfactory. The President’s view that we need to do more to improve the attitude and performance of our public service to citizen care, has been proven correct.
In the first month of the hotline operation, only 12% of the opened calls with provinces were resolved, 26% of calls in October and 31% in November. Overall, only 18% of total calls opened with provinces in the past three months were resolved.
With the National Departments, in September only 19% of calls opened were resolved. However, the average response over the past three months is 33%
The President has directed all Ministers and Premiers to prepare turnaround strategies. Each department and Premier’s Office must indicate what will be done to ensure that all enquiries transferred to them for investigation are responded to urgently and efficiently.
The Presidency has treated this financial year as a pilot phase and will continue to improve the service and deal with whatever bottlenecks still remain. It is an effective service and we are daily encouraged by the excitement of people whose enquiries have been resolved.
The Minister in The Presidency, Collins Chabane is working with Departments to ensure that the situation is resolved without delay and that Departments put more effective mechanisms and resources to respond to enquiries. He is also working to ensure that the service performs better at a technical and human resource level.
Source: ANC Today Vol 9 No 48
Showing posts with label Presidential Hot Line. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Presidential Hot Line. Show all posts
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
The presidential hotline isn't working - DA
While there has been a decrease in the number of attempts it takes to reach an operator at the Presidential Hotline, the improvement is slight. Out of 51 connected calls only 6 were answered by an operator. All in all, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has spent close to 13 hours (749 minutes) trying to reach the presidential hotline over the past five weeks.
As it undertook to do when President Jacob Zuma first launched the initiative, the DA has tried to use the hotline to register a series of serious complaints with the Presidency, and has heeded the presidency's call to pursue other avenues first. The results of the DA's attempts are:
* In five weeks we have been able to register five complaints. We have reference numbers for two of them, despite repeated promises that they will be sent through to us. The lack of a reference number suggests the complaint has not been properly registered and thus cannot be tracked and the response to it gauged.
* Outside of those four complaints, the DA has phoned the hotline a total of 51 times, with only 6 calls reaching an operator. These 51 calls translate into 749 minutes on hold; or 12 hours, 48 minutes.
* The first complaint registered by the DA, regarding the appointment of Paul Ngobeni, was lost in the system and had to be re-registered. The reference number is 1952293 and we will be following up on the progress on this case in a month's time.
At protests in impoverished Mpumalanga townships, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protestors, wounding several who were demanding better sanitation, electricity and housing. When asked how else the protestors should make their problems known, Zuma's spokesman Vincent Magwenya stated: "There are avenues available to communities to engage government on challenges they face in service delivery and we encourage communities to use the presidential hotline."
If the hotline is not an effective tool to register complaints, and when complaints eventually get registered they are still not addressed, how can citizens wanting better service delivery be expected to hold for hours, knowing that they are wasting their time?
Source: Politicsweb
As it undertook to do when President Jacob Zuma first launched the initiative, the DA has tried to use the hotline to register a series of serious complaints with the Presidency, and has heeded the presidency's call to pursue other avenues first. The results of the DA's attempts are:
* In five weeks we have been able to register five complaints. We have reference numbers for two of them, despite repeated promises that they will be sent through to us. The lack of a reference number suggests the complaint has not been properly registered and thus cannot be tracked and the response to it gauged.
* Outside of those four complaints, the DA has phoned the hotline a total of 51 times, with only 6 calls reaching an operator. These 51 calls translate into 749 minutes on hold; or 12 hours, 48 minutes.
* The first complaint registered by the DA, regarding the appointment of Paul Ngobeni, was lost in the system and had to be re-registered. The reference number is 1952293 and we will be following up on the progress on this case in a month's time.
At protests in impoverished Mpumalanga townships, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protestors, wounding several who were demanding better sanitation, electricity and housing. When asked how else the protestors should make their problems known, Zuma's spokesman Vincent Magwenya stated: "There are avenues available to communities to engage government on challenges they face in service delivery and we encourage communities to use the presidential hotline."
If the hotline is not an effective tool to register complaints, and when complaints eventually get registered they are still not addressed, how can citizens wanting better service delivery be expected to hold for hours, knowing that they are wasting their time?
Source: Politicsweb
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Presidential hotline teething problems
The high volume of calls to the presidential hotline has resulted in some people not getting through, President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday. "We are working to address this challenge to ensure that we give every call the attention it deserves," Zuma said at the launch of the presidential hotline, 17737, in Pretoria. He said the fact that some people could not get through to the hotline should not be viewed as a problem but a success as it indicated the number of people wanting to voice their concerns to their government. "We will continue to improve the service each day until we reach a stage where each South African is able to obtain quality service with ease as it should be".
The hotline was piloted on September 14 and Zuma said common queries and problems across all provinces related to housing, water and electricity. Housing matters include unfinished Reconstruction and Development Programme houses, the slow pace of housing delivery and alleged corruption at municipalities. There were also many queries about the department of labour relating to alleged corruption, unfair dismissals and general unemployment problems.
The hotline is aimed at making government more accessible to the public.
The hotline was piloted on September 14 and Zuma said common queries and problems across all provinces related to housing, water and electricity. Housing matters include unfinished Reconstruction and Development Programme houses, the slow pace of housing delivery and alleged corruption at municipalities. There were also many queries about the department of labour relating to alleged corruption, unfair dismissals and general unemployment problems.
The hotline is aimed at making government more accessible to the public.
Zuma: Govt working on presidential hotline
The government is trying to deal with people not getting through to the presidential hotline due to high call volumes, President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday. "We are working to address this challenge to ensure that we give every call the attention it deserves," Zuma said at the launch of the presidential hotline, 17737, in Pretoria.
The fact that some people could not get through should not be seen as a problem, but rather a success, as it indicated the number of people wanting to voice their concerns to their government. "We will continue to improve the service each day until we reach a stage where each South African is able to obtain quality service with ease, as it should be."
The hotline was piloted on September 14. Zuma said common queries and problems across all provinces related to housing, water and electricity. Housing matters included unfinished reconstruction and development programme houses, the slow pace of housing delivery and corruption at municipalities. There were also many queries about the Department of Labour relating to corruption, unfair dismissals and general unemployment problems. In addition, there were complaints to the departments of home affairs and land reform about inefficient and corrupt officials.
Zuma said the hotline was aimed at improving service delivery and was not a public relations exercise On its first day of operation, the hotline had 27 000 callers. More than 2 500 calls were received in the first hour, increasing to 7 000 in the third hour. Calls from Gauteng made up 30% of all calls received, followed by Limpopo, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape. The Northern Cape and Mpumalanga had registered the lowest number of enquiries.
Zuma said many calls by young people related to failure to pay school and university fees, emphasising the challenges of access to higher education by the poor. "Many callers are people who have spent months or even years trying to get their problems resolved to no avail," he said. He said other government interaction with the public, in the form of imbizos would continue.
Source: Mail & Guardian
The fact that some people could not get through should not be seen as a problem, but rather a success, as it indicated the number of people wanting to voice their concerns to their government. "We will continue to improve the service each day until we reach a stage where each South African is able to obtain quality service with ease, as it should be."
The hotline was piloted on September 14. Zuma said common queries and problems across all provinces related to housing, water and electricity. Housing matters included unfinished reconstruction and development programme houses, the slow pace of housing delivery and corruption at municipalities. There were also many queries about the Department of Labour relating to corruption, unfair dismissals and general unemployment problems. In addition, there were complaints to the departments of home affairs and land reform about inefficient and corrupt officials.
Zuma said the hotline was aimed at improving service delivery and was not a public relations exercise On its first day of operation, the hotline had 27 000 callers. More than 2 500 calls were received in the first hour, increasing to 7 000 in the third hour. Calls from Gauteng made up 30% of all calls received, followed by Limpopo, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape. The Northern Cape and Mpumalanga had registered the lowest number of enquiries.
Zuma said many calls by young people related to failure to pay school and university fees, emphasising the challenges of access to higher education by the poor. "Many callers are people who have spent months or even years trying to get their problems resolved to no avail," he said. He said other government interaction with the public, in the form of imbizos would continue.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Presidential Hotline starts operating
The Presidential Hotline, announced by President Zuma during the election campaign and in the State of the Nation address and Presidency Budget Vote earlier this year, will start operating on Monday, 14 September 2009.
Public liaison officers in the Union Buildings call centre will start handling calls and responding to public inquiries from 9h00 tomorrow.
Members of the public will be able to lodge their queries by dialling the toll-free hotline number, 17737, as announced by President Zuma at the rally in Matatiele today. The next few weeks will be spent perfecting the service and ensuring that all technical and operating aspects work efficiently.
The hotline and public liaison staff in the Presidency will be backed by 43 newly-assigned Public Liaison Officers in all government departments and Offices of Premiers. They will have the responsibility of following up the public enquiries and complaints lodged, and ensure that all are attended to efficiently. The provinces are expected to establish similar services, and to create a forum that includes liaison officers for each municipality so that the service is taken to local government level, including rural municipalities and districts.
The hotline and public liaison service aims to encourage an all-round improvement in citizen care and liaison and introduce a culture of putting the citizen first in all government departments as well as municipalities, as part of the President’s directive to create an interactive, accessible and responsive government.
Enquiries: Vusi Mona
Cell: 076 682 0079
Source: The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa
Public liaison officers in the Union Buildings call centre will start handling calls and responding to public inquiries from 9h00 tomorrow.
Members of the public will be able to lodge their queries by dialling the toll-free hotline number, 17737, as announced by President Zuma at the rally in Matatiele today. The next few weeks will be spent perfecting the service and ensuring that all technical and operating aspects work efficiently.
The hotline and public liaison staff in the Presidency will be backed by 43 newly-assigned Public Liaison Officers in all government departments and Offices of Premiers. They will have the responsibility of following up the public enquiries and complaints lodged, and ensure that all are attended to efficiently. The provinces are expected to establish similar services, and to create a forum that includes liaison officers for each municipality so that the service is taken to local government level, including rural municipalities and districts.
The hotline and public liaison service aims to encourage an all-round improvement in citizen care and liaison and introduce a culture of putting the citizen first in all government departments as well as municipalities, as part of the President’s directive to create an interactive, accessible and responsive government.
Enquiries: Vusi Mona
Cell: 076 682 0079
Source: The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa
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