Mbalula visits 10111 call centre for ‘first-hand experience’ of complaints

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula made an unannounced visit at the South African Police Service 10111 Call Centre in Midrand today.

Mbalula visited the centre “to get first-hand experience” following complaints received by the minister from the public.

Mbalula also talked to the call-centre agents to get an overview of the challenges they face.

“We’ve got challenges in relation to the personnel … the numbers ... we need to increase [them]. Secondly we need to modify our centre so that [we improve the] turnaround time and undermine prank calls. Priority will always be measured in terms of major crimes,” he said.

Mbalula was also given the opportunity to receive calls from the public and was connected to the SAPS vehicles.

He thanked the officers for their work and urged them to enforce law and order in communities and refrain from taking bribes.

“My visit here has been very important. I receive complaints from the public about the SAPS call centres and I came here to interact with the management and the call centre agents about ways to improve the way we communicate with the public.

“It’s an important centre; we must sustain it. We have a whole bunch of dedicated police officers and young people working here, who are well-trained.

“South Africans must also acknowledge that these people are not humouring around, not doing their job. If they don’t do their job, we’ll fire them”.

The minister said he planned to visit more police stations and SAPS centres.

“Police stations, calls centres and all other SAPS work places must expect me anytime,” he said.