Johannesburg customers are marginally more satisfied with municipal delivery of household services this year compared to 2009, the City of Johannesburg said on Wednesday.
“Compared to the previous year, 2009, the city saw an increase of 0.01% in satisfaction,” executive mayor Amos Masondo told a briefing on results of a 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by the Bureau of Market Research.
Household services include the provision of electricity, sanitation, refuse collection, stormwater, neighbourhood streets, and water and streetlights.
However, the survey found a decrease in the performance in municipal service areas, which encompasses street sweeping and litter control, fire and ambulance services, municipal clinics, and informal trading facilities.
Public urinating was also still a major problem in the city, Masondo said.
“The customer satisfaction status on the delivery of services in the City of Johannesburg has stabilised in the past two years, with some improvements in key areas,” Masondo said.
The overall trend showed an increase in satisfaction with core services from an index of 58 out of 100 in 2005, to 65 in 2010.
Respondents were slightly more satisfied with the delivery of electricity in 2010 compared to 2009. Increases in satisfaction were shown in Roodepoort, Greater Soweto and Sandton/Alexandra.
However, 16,1% of households were dissatisfied with electricity delivery in 2010 . They said this was because of high tariffs and service interruptions.
Refuse collection recorded the highest satisfaction rating with only 4,7% of households unsatisfied.
Neighbourhood roads recorded the second lowest rating.
Poor street lights
Survey participants indicated they were unhappy with the poor maintenance of the streets in their neighbourhoods.
Those living in informal settlements and townships were unhappy with the untarred roads.
The lowest satisfaction rating went to street lights mainly because of poor maintenance. The highest level of dissatisfaction was recorded in Ennerdale/Orange Farm.
The rating for sanitation and wastewater fell amongst the lowest three in 2010, however there was a consistent increase in satisfaction from 2007.
The survey also measured the residents’ satisfaction with community services, public safety, traffic control, crime prevention, billing and payment, customer care, participation and communication and corruption.
These all had seen a deterioration in satisfaction.
Household perceptions of crime prevention was also generally low in 2010, Masondo said.
Residents from all regions expressed concern about safety in Johannesburg except for those living in the Inner City.
There was a serious concern about the billing and payment of bills and the city’s ability to deal with incorrect accounts, and the customer care rating had also deteriorated significantly.
The mayor said the survey was conducted in November 2009 and since then the city had taken a number of initiatives to help have “positive impact” on the quality of service delivery.
“These results indicate that perceptions about service delivery in the City of Johannesburg are stabilising,” he said.
A total of 3 000 residents and 750 businesses in Johannesburg’s seven administrative regions participated in the survey.
The city had been conducting the survey annually since 2005.
“The city considers the results of the survey a critical tool to use in determining the perceptions of customers about the quality of service delivery,” the mayor said.
“The city has sought to use this information to determine key needs and priorities for the future.” – Sapa.