Following a visit to the presidential hotline centre last week, the Democratic Alliance (DA) says there have been numerous complaints about the call centre, and it questions whether the hotline is turning into a cold line.
The DA says criticisms include unresolved issues, abandoned calls, complaints being referred to the wrong department or province, and the long time it takes for calls to be answered.
According to Anchen Dreyer, DA shadow minister of public service and administration, the presidential hotline recorded 674 864 received calls between its launch in September 2009 and February this year. Of these, only 19 885 complaints have been resolved. “The success rate could be even lower, depending on how a resolved case is defined,” she adds.
Dreyer says despite the best technology being available in the call centre, the number of cases resolved is very low. She adds it has emerged that 484 327 calls were abandoned during the period.
Damage control
Presidency spokesperson Vusi Mona said complaints about the call centre's service were being addressed, adding there was a 90% resolution rate compared to other government departments.
Mona said the number of calls received has been decreasing each month, from 232 643 in September 2009 to 38 524 in February. He attributed this to people losing confidence in the hotline. However, he noted that by the end of February, 20 000 of the 44 000 logged calls had been resolved.
Capacity, cost hurdles
ANC chief whip Mathole Motshekga said last week that given the high volume of calls, more staff members were needed to ensure all the complaints are attended to.
The Pan African Congress' Letlapa Mphahlele agreed, saying the hotline was another way of "healing the nation", but that staff capacity is not where it is supposed to be. “They are working at 50% the capacity of what is really needed," he added.
The State IT Agency (SITA), which was involved in providing the call centre's technology, says the centre's capacity was affected by a tight budget.
SITA chairperson Zodwa Manase says no more work could be done on the call centre, until additional funding became available. "The more capacity we have, the more calls we'll be able to take and the more people will be helped." She said the initial budget was R5 million, and they are now sitting at R10 million.
The hotline, which can be reached on 17737, went live in September last year and is currently operating on two shifts per day with 10 people on each shift. It deals with complaints related to employment, housing, law, citizenship, potable water, social benefits, electricity, education, roads and health.
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