THE biggest issue facing Kempton Park’s licensing department is corruption.
This was one of the findings from unannounced visits conducted at various Ekurhuleni frontline service delivery facilities on Wednesday.
Deputy Minister Buti Manamela of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation was joined by Ekurhuleni’s MMC for Corporate and Shared Services, Khosi Mabaso.
The visits are part of the department’s Evaluation’s Frontline Service Delivery (FSD) monitoring programme, which is meant to monitor the kind of service offered to the public and whether or not top notch service is provided and people are treated with the dignity they deserve.
“We basically go into government public service points and we check if they are up to scratch in terms of providing services to the public. We check things like is it easy to find, is the facility clean, are the workers friendly, are the queues too long, et.,” Manamela explained.
Kempton’s Licensing Department in Spartan and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) offices were visited. Thereafter, they made their way to the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) offices in Tembisa.
Other areas around the metro were also monitored, including Bedfordview and Benoni.
Manamela said they had been impressed with the level of service given to the public, especially the complaints management system, albeit a few challenges were found.
“The biggest issue at the testing station (in Kempton) was corruption, corruption, corruption.”
Manamela was referring to reports he received about ‘runners’, people who wait outside the licensing department where they tell customers they have connections inside who can help them acquire their documents quickly, in return for a payment of course.
“We just hope our people will work with government in exposing officers who are corrupt so we are able to bring them to book and end this practice.”
Efforts would also be made to improve the services offered to economically uplift the youth.
“Finally, we feel the NYDA can do much more in ensuring they meet the needs and interests of young people in the metro. I will speak to the CEO of the NYDA with regards to equipping this office (Kempton) with resources needed to help the youth.”
Other issues also arose with other service delivery areas around the metro.
“Another challenge we came across was the availability of resources especially with regards to ambulances in the eastern part of Ekurhuleni, where people wait for longer hours before emergency vehicles can get to them because their response time is slow,” the deputy minister expressed.
Although pleased with the complaints management system, he felt the complaints system within the Labour Department inefficient. The department, together with the facilities, local and provincial government, will follow up on any recommendations.
