Following the previous council meeting where conflict erupted and the Democratic Alliance (DA) walked out, the meeting got off to a rough start.
In the previous council meeting, Izak Berg from the Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA), had a shouting match with chief whip Robert Mashego, after his name did not appear on the list of councillors with queries to the minutes.
Berg then pointed a finger at the speaker, Patricia Kumalo, after she tried to control them.
On Thursday, DA councillors demanded an apology from Mashego who in turn used the word ‘lie’ as a referral to a councillor’s comment.
This caused a massive dispute between council members and Kumalo ruled that the word ‘lie’ will no longer be allowed to be used in council.
The meeting then started and matters were discussed before mayor Mondli Gungubele delivered his speech.
Gungubele condemned the taxi violence that claimed the life of a 45-year-old woman and left three other people injured in Tembisa last week.
“Indeed the violence is senseless and I hope that the security agencies will move swiftly to arrest those that are behind it,” he says
He adds it is the metro’s sincere wish that feuding parties get together to peacefully iron out their differences.
“The barrel of a gun must never be seen as a solution to any problem,” he says.
He also spoke about the re-launch of the metro’s new-look call centre over a year ago after investing millions in upgrading the facility and recruiting 258 new call takers.
“We have witnessed a major improvement in the communication between the city and its people, a clear demonstration that the investment we made was a major strategic intervention in the area of Customer Relations Management,” he states.
Gungubele announced another milestone in that the facility logged its millionth call last Tuesday since its re-launch.
“It is with a great sense of pride that I pronounce, without fear of contradiction, that we are speedily moving toward assuming the status of boasting one of the most efficient and effective call centres around, which compares favourably with international norms and standards,” he says.
Gungulebe states the performance of the call centre has improved tremendously, with calls answered within two minutes leaping by 73% to 96%.
“As if this is not enough, the percentage of abandoned calls is a mere 1.3% which we are working around the clock to reduce in the near future,” he says.
The mayor encourages members of the public to continue relying on the call centre to report service delivery interruptions such as water, energy, waste removal, potholes and other municipal related matters.
“This facility remains one of our most effective avenues for engaging with the public on such matters,” Gungubele says.
He adds there may still be some challenges in certain areas, but that the overall facility is improving and will continue to improve.
To this, Berg responded by saying the call centre is far from perfect.
“Some calls take days, even weeks to be tended to,” he says.
Gungubele says that their records of response have been improved dramatically, despite some areas still having challenges.
The mayor continued by saying that a team, led by Dorah Mlambo, the MMC for Sports, Heritage, Recreation, Arts and Culture, took part in the ‘Trek for Mandela’ campaign which is a drive that seeks to mobilise funds for purchasing sanitary towels for underprivileged girls in South Africa.
“It cannot be that in this newly-democratic dispensation, we still have millions of South African girls who miss up to 50 days of school a year because they cannot afford sanitary towels,” the mayor says.
“Let us all roll up our sleeves and play our part in changing this rather unfortunate status quo.”
This drive is focused on Women’s Month, starting in August.
“It is the month when we celebrate the role of women in our communities, not only the women who made a difference in the past, but each and every woman, be it a grandmother, mother, daughter or sister,” says Gungubele.
“This is the month when the whole country reflects on the role of women in society and how they have helped shape the fortunes of the country”
