Civic-minded teen, Zahid Jadwat, 17, is developing a website to assist and speed up service delivery. He started the Toti Community Platform last May with the purpose of achieving community participation in the upkeep of the greater Amanzimtoti community and the website is an extension of his WhatsApp group.
“As a result of the positive enthusiasm our community has shown over the last year, the group reached maximum capacity and has successfully followed through in its aim to facilitate community participation in service delivery in the area. Since the group has reached maximum capacity, I felt it would be great to take the initiative to the next level with the introduction of a website with a similar function.”
The website, called Serdel, is currently being developed to provide proactive citizens with the convenience of being able to log reports related to service delivery to the municipality without having to suffer the frustration of congested call centres. It will allow citizens to log a report the moment they see a street light not working, a pothole, overgrown trees or anything related to service delivery in a few easy steps from their phone or desktop.
“Technology has advanced at an incredible pace and nearly everything has moved into the digital space, yet governmental structures are lagging behind in terms of embracing advancement. People are no longer interested in hanging on a call centre line for ages just to report a burst pipe when technology offers us the opportunity to be able to do exactly that with the tap of a button. It just makes sense.”
READ ALSO: Municipality to establish online platforms for councillors
Serdel will be piloted in the greater Amanzimtoti region. “Therefore, it will only serve this area until we have the capacity to expand into neighboring towns and eventually across South Africa. Depending on the response and effectiveness of our website, we intend on launching a mobile application to make the system more convenient.
“I saw a similar system when I spent some time in Johannesburg a while ago and it struck me that Durban doesn’t have anything like this. So I thought it’d be great if such a system could be rolled out across the country.”
The Toti Community Platform WhatsApp group and the proposed service delivery website are developed and run independently, and have no affiliation with eThekwini Municipality. Zahid will appreciate Toti residents’ input and ideas. Send suggestions via WhatsApp on 078-202-4161.
“We often lament over the lack of service delivery, yet we fail to realise just how much the municipality depends on each one of us to play our part. We are the ones who see these issues on a daily basis and it’s only fair that we play our part and report faults in order to ensure the upkeep of our environment.
READ ALSO: How to report municipal faults in Amanzimtoti
I’d love it if the community wholeheartedly embraces this initiative that we’re putting out there for them and makes use of it. All we’re asking for is that each individual logs a complaint every time they see a dysfunctional street lamp or a pothole and so on, so that this can get the attention of the municipality. The more people who report, the quicker it can get attended to.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics.
To receive news links via WhatsApp or Telegram, send an invite to 061 694 6047
The South Coast Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest – why not join us there?
Do you have more information pertaining to this story?
Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.
(Comments posted on this issue may be used for publication in the Sun)
