The Department of Home Affairs' (DHA's) call centre is not much more than a messenger service and does not adequately fulfil its objective.
This is according to director-general Mkuseli Apleni, who yesterday said the call centre should be reducing the volumes of people that needed to stand in queues at DHA offices.
The centre was created after a survey conducted during the department's transformation process showed citizens wanted to have their enquiries answered before they applied for services.
However, the call centre has not been able to do this and faces several challenges. “The call centre has now become a messenger service, because officials do not have information,” said Apleni.
“What we want to achieve with the new system we are implementing is the integration of the systems so that when you call, information must be available to that home affairs official in the call centre. This does not happen at the moment.”
He adds that a second step would be to introduce a customer service satisfaction survey. “We want to know what the people need so we can respond. This will assist us as we go forward with the implementation of the new system.”
Presidential problem
A similar problem faced the Presidential Hotline that aims to ensure citizens have easier access to the Presidency, and to enable greater interactivity.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says that, after more than a year of being operational, the Presidential Hotline is no more than a testament to ANC failure.
The Presidency says a number of citizens have been assisted through the hotline service, but DA parliamentary leader and shadow minister in the Presidency Athol Trollip says it has become “a spectacular example of the Zuma administration's failure to deliver”.
The Presidency cites the need to obtain quicker responses from government departments and provinces as a major challenge of the hotline.
Trollip agrees that this is the critical point in the failure of the hotline. “No matter how well-equipped or well-funded the hotline is, if those government departments to whom cases are referred to be resolved are not working efficiently, the hotline is little more than a government PR machine.”
The Public Service Commission, which manages the hotline, said departments are slow to act as call volumes continued to rise.
It added that less than 50% of cases reported to departments in 2009 received feedback. In that financial year, 1 849 cases were referred to departments - of which only 165 had been closed.
Presidency spokesperson Harold Maloka says new figures on the hotline's performance will be announced during the budget vote speech next week.
Strategic plan
The new DHA system referred to by Apleni forms part of the department's strategic plan for the 2012-2015 period.
It intends to integrate key systems and upgrade IT infrastructure for improved security and data integrity.
It will also secure processes and systems to combat fraud and corruption, and will increase capacity to contribute to the fight against cyber crime.
In commemoration of Youth Day, on 16 June, the DHA will deploy a number of mobile units across the country to earmarked venues to provide home affairs services to those who may require them.
At the main national commemoration venue, Orlando Stadium, in Johannesburg, the department will deploy four mobile units for this purpose.
Share