Thousands of calls to Zuma hotline

PRETORIA – The Presidential Hotline received 6 000 calls in its first three hours of operation yesterday, an official said.

‘We are experiencing high volumes of calls,’ said President Jacob Zuma’s spokesperson, Vusi Mona.’In the past three hours, we’ve received about 2 000 calls per hour.’The call centre opened at 09h00 for the public to lodge queries by dialling the toll-free hotline number 17737.Zuma addressed the call centre staff yesterday morning, saying the response to the announcement of a hotline had been ‘overwhelming’.’We want people to be able to tell us what their problems are with service delivery, so that we can assist directly.’This means that you have a challenging job. You may receive calls from very angry people, who would have been provoked by your colleagues from other departments,’ Zuma told the call centre staff.’Remain calm, patient and be humane and human. You will solve a lot of problems if you remain human and avoid being technical.’He said once the system started working efficiently, the volume of calls would go down as the government ‘should by then be more responsive, departments will have learnt the importance of responding quickly’.’If a person calls about an unpaid pension, do not say, ‘I do not work for social development’. They will say there is no water, there is no electricity, and be ready to deal with all of that efficiently and professionally,’ said Zuma.The president said part of the call centre staff’s job was to improve the government’s image.’You must help us take away the stigma from government. All over the world, government has a negative image. When you are given two loaves of bread from the same bakery and someone says to you one is from government and the other from the private sector, which one would you take?’Let us work hard together to eradicate that stigma that makes people think anything from government is bad or is of inferior quality.’Zuma said he hoped to soon visit all provincial call centres.Both the Democratic Alliance and the Young Communist League of South Africa welcomed the hotline. ‘It is a wonderful initiative which, if properly implemented, can make a real and tangible difference to the way in which South Africa’s public representatives perform in government,’ DA MP Athol Trollip said in a statement.The YCLSA urged South Africans to use the hotline constructively.’The YCLSA believes that this is a progressive step towards curbing red tape in service delivery and fighting corruption,’ said spokesperson Gugu Ndima.Sapa received an engaged tone when it tried to call the hotline several times between noon and 13h00. – Nampa-Sapa