Cape Town - The government has beefed up the budget of the Presidential Hotline which has reported significant improvements since it was launched three years ago.
The hotline's case resolution has increased to 80% as at January 31, up from 39% in 2009.
Briefing media in Parliament on Thursday following a regular Cabinet meeting, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane said the budget for the hotline had been increased to allow for the number of call centre agents to be increased from 10 agents per shift to 15 agents.
This means the call centre will have 30 agents after the increases.
Chabane said his department would carry out an audit of all government complaint systems and hotlines to improve co-ordination.
From its launch in October 2009 to 31 January, 683 371 calls had been lodged by call centre agents at the Presidential Hotline. "The majority of calls are from citizens calling multiple times to enquire about progress with the 122 589 cases that have been logged collectively," said Chabane.
Most of the calls included complaints around jobs, housing, legal advice, social services, education and electricity and also requests for information.
Cabinet has urged those departments and provinces with low case resolution rates to urgently improve their performance.
Chabane also announced that a framework for infrastructure development and co-ordination had been approved by Cabinet.
Chabane said the infrastructure development framework was contained in the implementation plan and sets out an integrated management and delivery system across the provincial, local and national government.
The plan includes 17 strategic infrastructure projects, a geographic information mapping system, 153 project components, job-creation projects, project planning oversight, five enablers to improve infrastructure usage such as port charges and rolling stock, five supply-side challenges such as skills and bitumen.
Chabane said Cabinet also noted the findings of the Frontline Service Delivery Monitoring Programme - which has involved unannounced visits to provinces and government agencies, to improve service delivery.
He said these teams, which included officials from the premiers' offices and mayors' offices, talk to members of the public and frontline and back room staff.
Some times security staff at government buildings and agencies were having to advise community members on where to go, as there were often no public servants tasked to do this.
Infrastructure had also collapsed and signage was often not clear, which led to community members often wasting time in the wrong queues.
"There are instances where those go beyond the call of duty to assist others," he said, adding that the teams would identify those that were performing very well and single out these officials to act as examples to colleagues.
Cabinet also noted the discussions under way at the Presidents Co-ordinating Council - particularly the issue of those civil servants who are suspended with full pay for a long time.
A progress report on the submission of exception reports regarding the payment of invoices within 30 days was also made at the council.
Chabane said Cabinet has urged the council not to suspend any civil servant unless it was absolutely necessary - such as where an official is suspended to avoid them from interfering in investigations.
He acknowledged that labour resolution processes could take a long time, but pointed out that the Cabinet was also looking at the principle of continuing to pay officials who were on full suspension.
The matter of labour brokers is being discussed at Nedlac, and Chabane said the government was confident that this process would yield a lasting solution
The Department of Labour's Chief Director for Labour Market Policy, Thembinkosi Mkalipi, said 80% of the issues that have been put in front of Nedlac have been approved.
Chabane said that South Africa followed a democratic and consultative approach when debating policies and that such an approach required time to give all South Africans the opportunity to be involved.
Cabinet has meanwhile approved a national cyber security policy framework which would address internet security threats to the state's assets and ensure that state information remained secure.
It has also approved the proposed plan to hive-off the African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation from the Central Energy Fund group of companies. The African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation would operate as a state-owned mining company to contribute towards beneficiation and energy security.
The signing of an operational agreement between the government and the UN's International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) - which would accelerate activities at the Cape Town ICGEB office - was also approved by Cabinet.
