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.
I'm at the 10111 SAPS call center for an announced visit. I want to address the challenges you all raised when calling the number. pic.twitter.com/c9PHADwmnC
— RSA Min of Police (@MbalulaFikile) May 9, 2017
I received a prank call from the SAPS CALL Center on 10111.
— RSA Min of Police (@MbalulaFikile) May 9, 2017
Stop using the number for prank calls. https://t.co/fmuoU8x4mC
WATCH: why I am at the SAPS 10111 call center. https://t.co/NFGgowTOTf
— RSA Min of Police (@MbalulaFikile) May 9, 2017
Watch live: I take a call from members of the Public at the call center 10111 https://t.co/1jhnVrROVV
— RSA Min of Police (@MbalulaFikile) May 9, 2017
Mbalula was also given the opportunity to receive calls from the public and was connected to the SAPS vehicles.
Police Minister @MbalulaFikile addresses police vehicles around Gauteng via the police radio. #10111 WATCH pic.twitter.com/mdMYC1oaq6
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) May 9, 2017
He thanked the officers for their work and urged them to enforce law and order in communities and refrain from taking bribes.
The call center operators will also share with me their challenges. I will share the complaints I get from the people #BackToBasics pic.twitter.com/BDeYqHdImj
— RSA Min of Police (@MbalulaFikile) May 9, 2017
“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”.
Well done @MbalulaFikile for visiting 10111 to motivate the cops and listen to some of the problems. pic.twitter.com/yxXuXR9lBz
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) May 9, 2017
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.