Question NW16 to the Minister in the Presidency
13 May 2022 - NW16
Luthuli, Mr BN to ask the Minister in the Presidency
(1)What total number of complaints have been received through the Presidential Hotline that are related to (a) service delivery, (b) governance and (c) corruption by government officials; (2) (a) what process is being followed to ensure that the line departments resolve the complaints received via the hotline and (b) how does a complainant obtain feedback?
Reply:
In the financial year 2020/2021, the Presidential Hotline (PH) received a total number of 9305 cases. In 2021/2022, up to the end of the 3rd Quarter, the PH received a total of 4693 cases.
Since its inception in 2009, the Presidential Hotline has always solely dealt with service delivery matters. Service delivery issues are often intertwined with governance issues and therefore not disaggregated when accounting or reporting on cases received. In relation to corruption cases, these are referred to the Office of the Public Service Commission as the DPME does not have the investigative capacity.
REPLY: Question 2
a) Once a complaint has been assigned to a department, it is expected that it must be resolved within the 25 working days as prescribed by the DPSA. Each stakeholder manager within DPME (Presidential Hotline) tracks and monitors cases assigned to departments using the Reporting platform portal to see if the number of open cases is reduced. Stakeholder managers also use spreadsheets to track performance as well as to inform departments on any outstanding complaints. Monthly feedback reports are shared with departments in order to provide a snapshot of how they are performing (resolving complaints) as well as any outstanding matters for investigation.
(b) They obtain feedback via telephone or email.
Phone: If the complainant is requesting for information on government services, such information is provided immediately at the point of contact (by the call centre agent).
Email: Once a complex case has been completed by the investigating Department, feedback is provided to the complainant via email.
NB: The method of feedback is dependent on the choice made by the complainant on how they would prefer to be contacted.
Mostly, feedback is provided telephonically. However, the DPME is able to monitor whether feedback was indeed provided to the complainant and this is done through the Customer Satisfaction Surveys.
Thank You.