If he were still a school principal, he would have issued an excellent report card to the team that built up the Kouga Call Centre this past year.

That was the praise from Executive Mayor Horatio Hendricks at the first birthday celebration of the Kouga Call Centre and Link app in Jeffreys Bay this week.

“More than 25 000 service requests were reported and resolved through the call centre and Link app since the official launch in October last year. That is simply amazing and shows that our staff are working,” the Mayor said

He said the Link app had become one of the municipality’s most important links with the community. 

“It was not always easy. There were many birth pains, but we faced each challenge head-on and will continue moving upwards and forward.”

Municipal Manager Charl du Plessis, who initiated the call centre with the assistance of retired telecommunications expert Leon Mostert, joined the Mayor in congratulating the call centre staff on what they had achieved during the first year of operations.

“One could say two fathers gave birth to this project, then handed the ‘baby’ over to its mother, our Corporate Services director Krishen Moodley,” he said.

“While I then became a somewhat absent father, my heart was always filled with pride when the call centre took another step forward. 

“This project was launched to bring all municipal staff on board to work towards a common cause and we have made great strides towards achieving this goal.”

Corporate Services director Krishen Moodley applauded her team for their expert nurturing of the call centre right from infancy.

“Our Canadian partners from Prince Edward County were blown away when we introduced them to the call centre. They could not believe that a municipality as small as Kouga could have this big and efficient a facility.

“The service statistics that have become available through the centre are also proving invaluable when it comes to monitoring the progress we’ve made and planning for the years to come,” she said.