![](https://images.caxton.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2014/03/callcentre_573237878.jpg)
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s (EMM) Services Call Centre recently logged its millionth call since the new and improved service was launched in May 2014.
Last year, Ekurhuleni opened a revamped call centre through which citizens can contact the municipality to report incidents which require attention, including potholes, water leaks, burst pipes, electricity outages and more. The staff compliment was also increased and over 200 agents were employed.
“All of these interventions have resulted in an efficient call centre, which compares favourably against international best practice and leading private sector companies,” said the Member of Mayoral Committee for Corporate and Shared Services, Queen Duba.
“Performance has improved from 73 percent of calls being answered within two minutes to 96 percent of calls being answered within an average of 40 seconds. Furthermore, the percentage of calls which are abandoned amounts to 1.3 percent of incoming calls and the duration of an average call is just over two minutes,” said MMC Duba.
The millionth call was received between 7.15pm and 7.30pm on Tuesday, July 21.
The call volume in May 2014 was 46 941. That number has almost doubled to 93 148 in June this year.
The EMM spokesperson, Mr Themba Gadebe, encouraged residents to continue making use of the service which is constantly being improved.
“The EMM has linked the call centre to a performance system which monitors the efficiency of the services rendered by the call centre and other service departments within the municipality. It is therefore vital that residents utilise the service in order to ensure that their queries are attended to timeously,” said Mr Gadebe.
The EMM’s Services Call Centre number is 0860 543 000. Mr Gadebe urged residents to ensure that they are given a reference number when they contact the centre to enable progress on their query to be tracked easily.