JZ hotline flooded

By Nicola Mawson, Contributing journalist

Johannesburg, 16 Sept 2009

President Jacob Zuma's grievance hotline has been flooded with calls since it became operational on Monday.

Vusi Mona, head of communications in the Presidency, says - on its second day of operation - the line received 26 930 calls between 6am and 10pm. On Monday, the line reportedly received 40 calls a minute.

Of Tuesday's calls, 17 224 made it through to the welcome message, with the rest not being handled due to the high call volumes. ITWeb has, so far, been unable to get through to the hotline.

Mona says some calls were abandoned, and others were prank calls. However, many citizens complain about not receiving social service benefits, a lack of housing and sanitation issues, and there were also allegations of abuse of power.

Unhappy citizens

The high number of calls to the R4 million hotline means South Africans are dissatisfied with service delivery, says Mona.

Government will have to take a step back and examine its other avenues of communication with citizens, he notes. “One institution, the Presidency, cannot cope with these volumes.”

More avenues for interaction will have to be opened up and - in addition - government will examine the effectiveness of the departmental call centres, as the Presidential Hotline is meant to be a last resort, Mona adds.

“These statistics raise a lot of questions on the effectiveness of what already exists.”

Despite the high call volumes, he says “you cannot be unhappy when people talk to their government... People have been waiting for this opportunity.”

However, because the calls coming in are more than the expected 1 500 a day, government will not be able to deliver on its “ambitious” 36-hour response time, Mona says.

In addition to the line, there is an e-mail address and a fax number. Mona says e-mails have been flooding in, and people have been writing and faxing their grievances too.