The Presidency claims the Presidential Hotline, which turned two this month, has a resolution rate of 75%.
Cabinet last week said this achievement demonstrates that the hotline is effective and has been well received and used by citizens at large.
“The Presidential Hotline validates the posture of government of being in touch with the people.”
The hotline, which can be reached on 17737, went live in September 2009, and deals with complaints related to employment, housing, law, citizenship, potable water, social benefits, corruption, electricity, education, roads and health.
The hotline, established by president Jacob Zuma, was created to ensure citizens have easier access to the presidency and to enable greater interactivity.
Wanted platform
The Presidency says the high number of queries the hotline registers, gives testimony that helpless members of the public have been longing for a platform to communicate their concerns and frustrations about how they are treated when seeking help from different tiers of government.
To date, the number of calls received by the hotline amounts to 111 751.
“Of these queries, a staggering 84 700 of the cases have been attended to and resolved, [but] there are some in our country who still face quite a number of service delivery challenges.”
The Presidency adds of all the calls logged, 70% are complaints, 27% are enquiries, and 1.8% are suggestions and compliments.
“In its second year anniversary, the Presidential Hotline continues to support measures in place to improve service delivery through strengthening government planning and improvement of monitoring and evaluation.”
Thin credibility
“In terms of the 75% figure, what worries me is there is no test. There is no evidence or proof of the validity of this figure.
“It's very thinly credible that the performance could go from the very low resolution rate of 25% to 75% in a very short space of time.”
Trollip mentioned the most recent trip to the hotline by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee and described the state of the hotline as “shambolic”.
Massaging figures
Minister for performance monitoring and evaluation Collins Chabane previously said that, at the end of March, the ministries received a total number of 29 000 calls and over 22 000 calls were resolved, resulting in a 78% resolution rate.
The provinces received a total number of over 29 000 calls. A total of over 8 000 calls were resolved, putting the resolution rate at 28%.
However, Trollip said these figures given by Chabane were inaccurate.
“I don't believe these figures. They're much greater than the resolution figures we got when we tested the system. There was a vast number of dropped calls and it looks like he hasn't taken those into account. I feel that the figures have been massaged or manipulated.”
Trollip adds that the hotline has not been a success, but rather a complete disaster. “For the amount of money we have spent on the hotline, it's really not something to be proud of.”
In its first year of operation, the hotline had been allocated almost R12 million of state funds, according to the DA.
The Presidency has not responded to ITWeb requests for the total cost of the hotline to date.
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