Pretoria - Police Minister Fikile Mbalula made an unannounced visit to the South African Police Service (SAPS) 10111 Call Centre in Midrand, on Tuesday.
The visit was to get first-hand experience following complaints received from the public. He also used the opportunity to interact with the call-centre agents on their challenges.
"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,” the Minister said.
The Minister was also given an opportunity to receive calls from the public which saw him interacting with a woman who was prank calling the centre.
Minister Mbalula told her that the Call Centre is an important tool in the fight against crime and must never be used for fun.
The Minister used the visit to connect with all SAPS vehicles from the Call Centre in which he thanked SAPS officers for their hard-work in keeping the country safe.
He urged them to enforce law and order in communities and not take bribes.
“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 the abuse of the call. I promise on my part we will work harder to improve the centre’s response," the Minister said.
Minister Mbalula plans to visit more police stations and all SAPS centres.
"Police stations, calls centres and all other SAPS work places must expect me anytime.” - SAnews.gov.za
