DEAR Editor;
I see a daily messaging on social media groups about interruptions in water supply, electricity supply and failures in municipal services.
The majority relate to water and electricity outages due to their immediate impact on our daily lives.
Water, waste water and environmental health is provided by Ugu.
Electrical supply is provided by Eskom.
Roads, drainage, verges, streetlights, litter, land usage, environmental management, beaches, libraries, signage, public toilets, fire and emergency, etc are all Umdoni municipal services.
These service failures have become the primary campaign platform for some aspirant politicians in our communities.
There is an endless barrage of postings and attempts to discredit or undermine the political competition, in the hope that it will sway voters to believe that the author is worthy of election and steeped in the skills of public representation.
The irony is that it does not improve service delivery.
Being the first to post a message on WhatsApp has nothing to do with proper public representation, governance oversight and motivating sustainable community development.
I have seen unsubstantiated and illogical claims by some individuals that he or she has a special status that provides favourable consideration over the thousands of other customers that Eskom, Ugu and Umdoni have.
None of it is true.
All government service providers have customer service systems in place for all customers to use, regardless of their politics.
The systems do not ask for a customer’s political affiliation when problems are reported.
The best approach for all residents is to report the problem immediately via the channels provided, and pass on the required information that the service provider needs. (Make sure that a reference number is obtained).
The more residents who do this the sooner it will be attended to.
Every resident has access to the customer service channels which establish the data on which operational responses are managed.
There is a role for councillors to play when reported matters go unattended for too long.
Councillors can follow up with management to get attention to issues that have not been responded to or become urgent.
With the reference number and/or critical details the councillor engages with management who track the complaint and report back on progress and interventions.
Eskom, Ugu and Umdoni have confirmed these arrangements.
Engaging with operational staff should not happen and the directive from management is to refrain from this practice.
It creates interference with fault management processes and places operational staff in a position that is likely to cause internal tensions.
It also creates a misperception that specific departments and staff are politically aligned and will therefore favour certain residents for their perceived political allegiance.
Worse yet, it feeds the perception that special treatment can be bought with bribes.
Interference in operations is forbidden in the councillor’s legislated code of conduct.
Councillors are not an official complaints management channel of any government department but they get involved to facilitate solutions when a response is not satisfactory and hardship for residents becomes evident.
They also submit complaints through the systems that exist.
Councillors (and members of the public) do not have authority over operational staff in government service departments, regardless of the misleading claims made by some residents.
Operational staff report to and take direction from their managers.
The systems do not always work as they should and good communication from the service providers to the public or the complainant is a serious weakness in all three organisations.
Notwithstanding the communication problems the reality is that the systems will improve if we use them and if we identify those inherent weaknesses and report them as well.
COUNCILLOR EDWIN BAPTIE
Democratic Alliance Caucus Leader: Umdoni
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