Lives could be affected if Gauteng’s new R600-million centralised 10111 call system did not work properly when it was implemented, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday.
This comes amid the chaos surrounding the recent implementation of the new electronic national traffic information system (eNaTIS), said DA Gauteng safety spokesperson John Moodey.
”Long queues, closed offices and switched-off phones were the order of the day with the ‘upgraded’ licensing system.
”We cannot have the same experience with the 10111 call centre if people are fighting for their lives or are in danger when they call,” he said.
”Rather leave the system as is if there are going to be problems …
”Keep both systems running parallel until the one can replace the other without any glitches whatsoever. Our lives may depend on it,” said Moodey.
In 2006, Gauteng safety and security provincial minister Firoz Cachalia noted concerns about the province’s six 10111 call centres each receiving an average of 80 000 calls a month.
He announced in February that the centres’ 136 personnel had received training to improve service delivery and that senior managers had been deployed to the centres to up levels of supervision.
He anticipated that a start would be made on redeploying the call centres into a single emergency call centre from July. — Sapa