Today, 17 September 2024, Deputy Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Ms Pinky Kekana, conducted a site visit to the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) 10111 Command Centre, located in Midrand, Gauteng Province.
This inspection, held during the Public Service Week, aligns with the objectives of the ongoing Integrated Public Service Month (IPSM) campaign, which aims to monitor service delivery, address challenges, and facilitate improvements and innovation.
“There’s an outcry from communities about the levels of service they are receiving from the Government,” said the Deputy Minister.
In her remarks, she explained that the visit to the 10111 Command Centre supports the Department of Public Service and Administration’s (DPSA) stewardship of the Batho Pele programme, which shares similar goals with the Command Centre, albeit with a focus on security and safety.
In addition to understanding operations, the Deputy Minister expressed particular interest in the complaints management aspects of the emergency 10111 Command Centre, aiming to explore areas of integration with similar call centres, such as the Presidential Hotline.
“We should therefore integrate our programmes and work in a complementary way; service to the people lies at the centre of all Government initiatives,” Deputy Minister Kekana stated.
The decision to inspect the 10111 Command Centre was informed by an onsite investigation conducted by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) after receiving public complaints about the unsatisfactory service levels experienced by citizens logging calls for emergency policing services.
The DPME report on the 10111 Command Centre found a correlation between low staffing levels and the negative impact on operations and performance in the emergency call centre, among other factors.
In addition to sharing lessons learned from similar call centre initiatives within the Government, the inspection provided an opportunity for SAPS senior management to present feedback on the extensive findings and recommendations outlined in the DPME report.
During the presentation to Deputy Minister Kekana, SAPS leadership, including Gauteng Police Commissioner Lt Gen T. Mthombeni, addressed the issues raised in the DPME report, which were generally well-received. Notably, the report highlighted how the 10111 Command Centre had increased its staffing capacity from low levels to a more sustainable number across the country’s 19 centres, as identified in the DPME report.
As part of the inspection, Deputy Minister Kekana, along with senior managers from the DPSA, DPME, and SAPS, visited the heart of the Gauteng 10111 Command Centre. There, they observed the process from the moment a call is received from a member of the public to the dispatch of an emergency police response.
In the morning, the IPSM team, which included managers and officials from the DPSA, DPME, and SAPS, was similarly briefed on the operations of the Presidential Hotline, located at the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) premises in Centurion.