Some of South Africa’s 20 10111 contact centres have considerably exceeded their planned budgets over the last three years, although almost all are understaffed, according to information released by the Minister of Police. Call volumes have, however, increased.
Nathi Mthethwa was answering a series of questions by Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament DA Schäfer about the centres. Although the information is incomplete it shows the Eastern Cape as having five contact centres (Mthatha, East London, Port Elizabeth,Queenstown and Uitenhage), the Free State (FS) four (Phutaditjhaba, Selosesha, Welkom & Bloemfontein), Gauteng one (Midrand), KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) three (Durban, Pietermaritzburg & Empangeni), Limpopo one (Polokwane), Mpumalanga three (Middelburg, Secunda and White River) and the Northern Cape (NC), Northwest Province (NWP) and Western Cape (WC) one each (Kimberley, Mafikeng and Cape Town respectively).
Mthethwa was for reasons not explained in the lengthy answer unable to provide the budgets for several of the provinces, including Gauteng, KZN, MP, NC and NWP. The reply simply states that these budgets were “shared”. It is not clear why the amounts could not be drawn from the shared budgets.
What emerges is that provinces for which data is provided, spent at least R84.041 million between April 2006 and September this year on their 10111 centres against a budgeted R85.694.
|
FY2006/7 |
FY2007/8 |
FY2008/9 |
FY2009/10 |
||||
|
Budget |
Spent |
Budget |
Spent |
Budget |
Spent |
Budget |
Spent |
E Cape |
4 700 939 |
5 030 486 |
6 687 691 |
8 652 135 |
6 980 648 |
8 652 135 |
– |
1 514 939 |
F State* |
234 699 |
629 293 |
234 699 |
629 240 |
726 495 |
425 493 |
– |
– |
Gauteng |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
KZN |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
7 112 000 |
– |
502 000 |
Limpopo |
1 329 606 |
906 090 |
1 450 000 |
1 004 338 |
2 376 754 |
311 633 |
1 986 636 |
918 658 |
Mpuma |
– |
– |
– |
– |
4 209 685 |
1946 622 |
2 109 467 |
1 183 242 |
NC |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
1 063 110 |
327 367 |
NWP |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
– |
WC |
9 051 000 |
12 323 996 |
14 245 000 |
13 421 311 |
14 631 600 |
15 735 652 |
13 886 000 |
6 194 182 |
Total |
15 316 244 |
18 889 865 |
22 406 190 |
21 690 970 |
28 925 182 |
34 183 535 |
19 047 213 |
9 276 948 |
Note: The Free State figure is only for the Phutaditjhaba call centre
All the provinces provided all centre staffing levels, although it is not clear if this is current data.
|
Actual staff |
Required staff |
E Cape |
291 |
272 |
Free State |
124 |
163 |
Gauteng |
529 |
598 |
KZN |
203 |
257 |
Limpopo |
116 |
146 |
Mpumalanga |
159 |
382 |
NC |
35 |
110 |
NWP |
26 |
45 |
WC |
160 |
244 |
Total |
1643 |
2217 |
Mthethwa’s answer does provide any clues as to why all the contact centres are understaffed, some seriously so, with, on average, only three out of every four posts filled. It notes though that the Secunda and Middelburg centres were “not fully operative.”
Call volumes have, meanwhile, escalated, with 20.2 million calls recorded from March 2006 to September this year in those provinces with the ability to track calls. The Northern Cape could not provide call details “due to inadequate equipment.”
|
FY2006/7 |
FY2007/8 |
FY2008/9 |
FY2009/10 (April-September) |
E Cape |
310 008 |
322 206 |
313 761 |
124 311 |
Free State |
234 800 |
229 870 |
219 454 |
205 521 |
Gauteng |
– |
1 423 022 |
4 812 012 |
2 081 711 |
KZN |
– |
1 680 631 |
1 472 436 |
511 018 |
Limpopo |
117 540 |
159 852 |
334 272 |
55 712 |
Mpumalanga |
– |
– |
– |
– |
NC |
– |
– |
– |
– |
NWP |
– |
23 779 |
52 960 |
15 773 |
WC |
1 639 425 |
1 707 337 |
1 571 588 |
627 351 |
Total |
2 301 773 |
5 546 697 |
8 494 098 |
3 918 397 |