The Minister of Police, Mr Fikile Mbalula made an unannounced visit at the South African Police Service (SAPS) 10111 Call Center in Midrand today.
The visit was to get first-hand experience of what happens at the call centre following complaints the Minister received from the public. The Minister interacted with the call centre staff and got to understand their challenges.
The Minister was connected to all SAPS vehicles from the Call Center. He used the opportunity to thank SAPS officers for their hard work in keeping South Africa safe. He urged them to enforce law and order in our communities and not to take bribes.
The Minister was also given an opportunity to receive calls from the public. On this, the Minister answered one phone call from a woman who was prank calling the call centre. Minister Mbalula told her that the call center is an important tool in the fight against crime and must never be used for fun.
“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 staff about ways to improve the way we communicate with the public. I had the pleasure of communicating with our SAPS officers on the ground. I appreciated that. I also took calls from the public. I will stress again that members of the public must guard against prank calling the call centre. I promise on my part we will work harder to improve the centre’s response,” said the Minister.
Minister Mbalula plans to visit police stations and more SAPS centres. “Police stations, calls centres and all other SAPS work places must expect me anytime,” he said.
