JZ hotline reflects `failure to deliver`

AFTER A YEAR of being operational, the presidential hotline is no more than a testament to ANC failure, says the Democratic Alliance (DA).

The Presidency says a number of citizens have been assisted through the hotline service, but DA parliamentary leader and shadow minister of the Presidency Athol Trollip says it has become "a spectacular example of the Zuma administration`s failure to deliver".

Trollip says the statement released recently by the Presidency, to mark the hotline`s first anniversary, "not only posits a misleading appraisal of the hotline`s performance, but also directly contradicts comments made earlier this year by President Jacob Zuma".

The statement said 72 299 calls were received from the public since the inception of the hotline, with the total number of complaints, up to 7 September, being 57 375. It also said the service resolves about 400 cases per week, which puts the resolution of all complaints to a total of 30 540.

But Trollip says the Presidency has its wires crossed with these figures. "These statistics are, at best, an indication of the poor administration of the hotline data and, at worst, a clear attempt by the Presidency to mislead the public."

These figures are different to those made public by the president earlier this year.

Trollip explains that in March, during an oversight visit to the hotline, delegates were informed that 674 864 calls had been made to the hotline. "This figure - confirmed by the president in a reply to a DA Parliamentary question in May - is nine times the number of calls reported in the statement by the Presidency."

He adds that this discrepancy may be because of dropped calls, given the hotline`s 70% dropped call rate. "It is, however, difficult to analyse the statistics put forward by the Presidency, as there is clearly confusion over their accuracy."

Trollip also criticises the Presidency`s failure to mention the hotline`s "chronic problem of dropped calls".

"According to the Parliamentary reply received by the DA in May, the president confirmed that 484 327 of the hotline`s 674 864 received calls had been dropped, meaning that 70% of the calls made to the hotline had never even reached an operator."