ALLAN SAULS, PR councillor wards 12 and 13 writes:
In May 2014, Ekurhuleni executive mayor, Clr Mondli Gungubele, launched the newly upgraded Ekurhuleni Call Centre.
At the time Mayor Gungubele stated that the centre’s technology had been upgraded to tighten communication between the call agents, the point of service and the field agents in order to ensure that complaints were resolved speedily and that credible feedback was given to complainants.
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However, over a year later, it appears that these upgrades have not resulted in the improvements promised by the municipality.
I am increasingly being approached by residents who have logged complaints with the call centre but have received no feedback, nor have their service delivery complaints been resolved.
Two recent examples are:
On September 22, a burst pipe on Baviaan Avenue was reported to the call centre (ref 1625553). By the following day, the municipality still had not come to fix the pipe and water loss was at a critical level. It was only after I contacted the water department directly that the pipe was repaired.
Sewage spills have also become a weekly occurrence on Pikkewyn Street in Birch Acres. On September 21 a spill in this street was reported to the call centre (ref 1622796). However, the municipality failed to attend to the problem until I reported the matter directly to department of sanitation.
Call centre operators also seldom provide updates or feedback to residents on the status of complaints.
It is clear that the R7 million spent on upgrading the centre and the employment of more than 200 agents have done little to improve this service delivery hotline.
I will submit questions to the MMC for Corporate and Shared Services, Queen Duba, on the call centre’s failure to resolve complaints it receives from residents and how the municipality plans to fix this problem.
It is critical that residents living in Ekurhuleni have access to a reliable and efficient complaints hotline that ensures their service delivery complaints are resolved timeously.
The metro failed to comment – Editor
