Francois Pretorius, Hattingh Borman, Lesley-Anne September, Gerhardt Fouche

Heavy downfalls came over the Kouga area recently, causing flooding in many areas. Roads started deteriorating again with pot holes visible, some dangerously deep. Most Kouga residents were more pleased with the nice rainfall that the area received.  As a result the social media platforms have been very busy as well and so has the Kouga Municipality Call Centre. It has become apparent that many residents either don’t make use of the official Vodacom Link app or has been experiencing issues trying to make contact with the call centre.

Ward 11 committee members Francois Pretorius and Gerhardt Fouche accompanied Ward Councillor and Kouga Speaker Hattingh Borman to the Call Centre in Humansdorp on Thursday morning to get a better insight of the operation and challenges that faces the Call centre.

The Facebook Group Jeffreys Bay Online with it’s membership close on 18,000 plays an important  role in the publishing of Municipal Notices relating to Service Delivery issues that may affect the public.    One of the aspects that could bottleneck is when many residents call in about the same issue blocking up lines and becoming frustrated as a result. Incidents that affect a larger region will be published on JBO FB Group so as to assist with reducing such frustration.

Aspects that was confirmed during the visit includes the following:

• The Call Centre will be moving to Jeffreys Bay at the end of August 2018 and be situated at the old SASSA Building at 16 Woltemade Street, allowing for much more needed space.
• Current Call Centre hours of 07:00-19:00 will be extended to 07:00-22:00 once the move has been completed.
• Kouga Wards are divided amongst the various Call Centre operators, allowing them to become familiar with the environment and the street names within the Ward.
•  Information reported via the VODACOM LINK APP is automatically logged with the RELEVANT teams then deployed to attend to issues based on availability. The more queries that are logged via the VODACOM LINK APP the more comprehensive information management is available at senior levels relating to overall Service Delivery Status.
• After Hours calls (22:00 to 07:00) are managed by Fire Station staff and handed to Call Centre in the morning for updates.
• Emergency related issues are directly managed & attended to by duty personnel at the Fire Station

Information about the various reported issues as well as the success  rate will soon be published.

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