Few South Africans know they can complain about bad service from public servants, few of those who know do complain, and those who do complain are often dissatisfied with the response.
“This is a most alarming finding bearing in mind both Batho Pele [People First, the public service motto] and the respective departments’ public commitment to service delivery,” says the first national customer satisfaction survey, released this week by the Public Service Commission (PSC).
PSC research in 2000 found that most government departments had not yet established a complaints procedure.
Government service generally meets South Africans’ expectations; those who received good service from one department tend to have a positive outlook about government services as a whole.
Those who receive social grants, gave birth or received care before and after birth were particularly satisfied with the service, the survey reported.
In contrast, those who provide the services, particularly teachers and social workers, rated the value of their service as low and failing to live up to expectations. For example, teachers had high expectations of outcome-based education but were dissatisfied with its implementation, while social workers were dissatisfied with the payment of government grants.
The survey considered four departments: education, health, housing and social development. It targeted adult basic education and training (Abet) and life skills training by the Department of Education; ante- and post-natal care, care during birth and emergency services in the Department of Health; and housing and social grants as well as development projects administered by the Department of Social Services.
The national customer satisfaction survey was conducted to help identify gaps between expectation and delivery to improve performance.
It includes a breakdown of the response to each department with suggestions on areas of improvement:
Education: access to Abet courses should be improved and the department should provide more Abet-related equipment. In life skills training, 2% of respondents felt the department should provide transport and 7% felt the courses required more educational material.
Health: 25% reported satis-faction with friendly service, but the lack of nurses and other professional staff and cleanliness emerged as key concerns.
Housing: the quality of housing could be upgraded and better materials should be used.
Social development: queuing time should be cut and staff should treat all recipients equally and more speedily.