Contact Centre
19 June 2006
MEC for Finance and Economic Affairs, Paul Mashatile
Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) MECs and Heads of Departments
Representatives of the City of Johannesburg
CEO of the Gauteng Shared Service Centre (GSSC), Mike Maile
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Three days ago we commemorated the 30th anniversary of the 1976 uprisings at
the soccer city stadium. Together with the City of Johannesburg and the
national government we honoured members of the Soweto Student Representative
Council for their continued commitment to the total emancipation of our people,
especially the poor and the working class.
Important as these ceremonies are, the best way in which we can honour the
class of 1976 and those who followed in their footsteps is to use our
ascendancy to power to serve our people to the best of our ability. Just as
they gave selflessly without due regard to the material gains that may accrue
to them we too need to put the interests of our people above our own personal
interest.
Over the past few years we have travelled the length and breath of our
province to interact with the Gauteng residents on what we are doing to improve
their lives; what they can do to improve their lives; the challenges we face
and how we are responding to them. While they have always appreciated progress
made to improve their lives for the better, they have also raised very sharply
the need to improve service delivery, access to government services and easy
access to information about government which they can use to further improve
their lives.
At the state of the province address in February this year, we committed
ourselves to expand the GPG-wide call centre from 150 seats to 600 seats by
July this year beginning with the Wynberg contact centre. We are gathered here
today to witness the fulfilment of that commitment. We remain on course to
launch a further two 150-seat centres in Sedibeng and the West Rand before the
end of the year.
Since the initial contact centre was opened in 2004 we have experienced a
massive expansion in the number of people who use the contact centre to get
information about the provincial government. Currently we receive about 300 000
calls every month from members of the public.
The expansion of the contact centre's capacity will enable us to more
effectively address a growing demand from the public and deal with challenges
such as the drivers' license booking system, which has attracted public concern
over the past few months.
I am also pleased to announce today that we are for the first time
introducing a single number which the public can use to access information
about the Gauteng Provincial Government through the contact centre. This number
is 0860 Gauteng (0860 428 8364). This introduces an easy-to-remember number
which Gauteng residents will be able to dial to get easy and prompt access to
government including information on the following:
* Bana Pele, which provide free access to a package of services to benefit
the province's poorest children, including social grants, health care,
education and other social services
* Drivers and learners licence bookings
* Public transport information
* Services and support for small, medium and micro enterprises provided by the
Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP)
* How to access a range of public services provided by the provincial
government.
The introduction of the single number will also help reduce by half the cost
of calling the provincial government. Previously members of the public calling
us had to bear the full cost of the call. However, with the introduction of the
0860 share-call number government will bear half the cost of the call.
Our five-year programme, which we introduced in 2004 based on a renewed
electoral mandate from the people of Gauteng, identified key challenges over
the next 10 years in building an effective and caring government. These
included improving our service delivery to respond to the needs of citizens who
are knowledgeable about their rights and rightfully demand increasing quality
of service provision and that they are treated with dignity by the public
service. Another challenge we identified was the identification of new
opportunities and ways of serving our people arising from the ongoing
information and communication technology (ICT) revolution.
Our five-year programme made a further commitment to provide all citizens
with high quality, caring and integrated government services, including through
the increasing use of technology and the rolling out electronic government
services, Multi-Purpose Community Centres and community development
workers.
The launch of the Wynberg contact centre and the introduction of a single
number represent a further step in the fulfilment of these commitments in line
with the Batho Pele principles. It represents a further advance in the rollout
of our e-governance strategy which is using advances in ICT to better serve our
people, improve access to government and to ultimately improve the quality of
life of all our people.
The e-governance strategy provides for a variety of channels, through which
citizens can access government at their convenience, including:
* The contact centre, which was started in 2004 and which can now be
accessed through the 0860 Gauteng number
* The internet portal, http://www.gautengonline.gov.za, which is
operating successfully following its official launch in June 2005
* Walk-in centres, particularly Multi-Purpose Community Centres (MPCCs), which
are located in communities close to where people live and which provide
one-stop access to a range of government and non-governmental services. A total
of 21 MPCCs are currently operational, with a target of 40 MPCCs by 2009.
* A total of 50 information kiosks, which will be set up at MPCCs and other
government service centres in and around Gauteng, as well as 70 digital lounges
within government departments. Since the announcement during the state of the
province address in February, ten of these have already been established.
* In addition to telephones, residents will also be able to send faxes and
emails to obtain information about government.
As indicated earlier this year, we are committed to ensure that every
community development worker (CDW) in Gauteng has remote access to the portal
and services database. By the end of March next year we will have about 500
CDWs. This means that residents in every ward in Gauteng, especially those who
don't have private access to the internet, will be able to access information
about government. We are therefore well on the road to the achievement of our
goal of ensuring universal access to public information in Gauteng.
Some government opponents have attempted to portray our innovative
utilization of ICT to better serve the people of the province as being
inappropriate given the developmental challenges we face. For them, the
benefits of access to technology should be the sole preserve of the elite.
We reject this view with contempt. As a developmental state it is our
priority to see to it that the poor and most disadvantaged have access to the
advantages that technology can bring in order to enable them to improve their
lives; our approach is indeed to privilege the poor and the disadvantaged,
especially those who do not have private access to information and private
services.
Access to information about government and to public services is not a
luxury; it is a constitutional right and a necessity in a modern democracy such
as ours. It is about improving the quality of life of our people. It is about
making Gauteng a place where all can access the opportunities that we have
created in the past 12 years of our democracy; it is about making Gauteng an
even better place in which to live.
To illustrate the point, access to public information and e-governance can
help an unemployed mother access a child care grant, thereby making the
difference between a child that starves or has something to eat every day; it
can help an HIV positive person find out how and where to access treatment,
care and support for people living with Aids; or enable a young entrepreneur to
access a government tender, a learnership or a job within the provincial
government; it can inform a victim of abuse about how to access post-exposure
prophylaxis and victim support services.
These are just some of the examples which illustrate the difference that
access to information and services can do to help change people's lives and
enable people to exercise or protect their rights and responsibilities. In this
way this initiative also contributes to the realization of another of our
five-year priorities the deepening of democracy and the realization of the
constitutional rights of our people. This includes the rights of vulnerable
groups such as women, children, the elderly, young people and people affected
by HIV and AIDS.
These developments are a reflection of not just our commitment to public
service, but are also evidence of the growing efficiency, innovation and
commitment to excellence within the public service in Gauteng. This is crucial
if we are to successfully address the challenges of poverty, underdevelopment
and unemployment in our province.
In addition to the direct jobs being created through the contact centre, the
initiative will also provide training and capacity which will benefit the
contact centre industry in our province. This sector has enormous potential for
growth in Gauteng, and we will continue to provide the necessary support in
this regard.
They are also in line with our initiatives to improve the capacity and
organization of the state and will help contribute to the overall services
revolution in our province, both in the public and in the private sector.
E-governance in particular, services both the first and the second economy.
Effective governance is integral to economic efficiency, the overall
performance of the economy and its ability to create jobs and economic
opportunities for all. Our e-governance strategy therefore has a direct link to
our provincial growth and development strategy as well as our vision of making
Gauteng a globally competitive city region, which is able to address the needs
of all its citizens.
Today's launch goes a long way to give further meaning to the commitment we
continue to make: to ensure that we continue to improve people's lives in
honour of those who laid their lives during the struggle for freedom and
liberation.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government
19 June 2006
