10111 centres over budget, understaffed

1507

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