WeeklySA_AdminBLUE TICKERS: Ministers and top bureaucrats give citizens who seek information the cold shoulder
By Sy Makaringe
THERE is a thick, solid wall the government has built between itself and ordinary citizens who seek information on a variety of issues from either the public servants or public representatives, or both.
Trying to reach politicians or government officials through the contact details provided on the various departments’ respective websites – including fixed-line telephone numbers and email addresses – is as frustrating and difficult as attempting to scale the 5 985m-high Mt Kilimanjaro, a months-long investigation by Weekly SA Mirror can reveal today.
The published landline telephone numbers are usually either “out of service” or “no longer in use”. Or they ring unanswered, if they do at all.
Emails are hardly responded to, let alone their receipt being acknowledged.
One such culprit is Fhumulani Peter Netshipale, the Director-General of the Department of Social Development, whose unresponsiveness led us to doubt whether he was a real person as we had never heard of him or seen him on TV.
On the rare occasion that an email was responded to, it came in the form of an automatic out of office reply from Marlilise Francis, a personal assistant (PA) in the private office of Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie, whom we wanted to interview in connection with his department’s plans for this year’s Heritage Month celebrations.
Francis wrote in the automatic out of office response in July: “I am currently out of the office on maternity leave until the end of August. During this time, please send all correspondence to the acting private and appointment (sic) secretary Mr Chad Kramer and acting assistant PA Ms Meshé Habana.”
Francis provided the email addresses and cellphone numbers of both Kramer and Habana and ended the email by saying: “Thank you for your understanding and I look forward to connecting with you upon my return.”
Needless to say, both Kramer and Habana did not respond to the emails sent to them, neither did they answer their cellphones.
Our team had to use guerilla tactics to obtain McKenzie’s cellphone numbers so we could contact him directly. But this, too, failed to produce the desired results as the minister ignored detailed questions sent to him via WhatsApp. This was unexpected from a minister whose political party, the Patriotic Alliance (PA), is a junior partner in the Government of National Unity (GNU) and would like to give an impression to South Africans that his outfit is a viable alternative to the current regime.
After a couple of voice calls, McKenzie finally responded with two WhatsApp messages: “Good afternoon” and “I will call later, thanks.” But he never did.
The national Department of Social Development ranks among the worst departments with shambolic accessibility profiles.
After numerous attempts to reach the office of Social Development Director-General Netshipale via the publicly available landline numbers and email addresses failed, our team had to improvise measures to obtain the correct ones. In desperation the team approached the Gender-Based Violence Unit’s call centre, which is linked to the department but apparently run by a private entity.
WSAM: Please provide us with the correct landline numbers to the DG’s office. GBV Unit’s call centre consultant: My apologies, Sir, but we, too, do not have their numbers.
WSAM: But if you yourselves do not have those numbers, who else will?
GBV Unit’s call centre consultant: I understand. All I have are two numbers for the HR department. Perhaps they will help you. However, both numbers were out of order. Turning to Minister Sisisi Tholashe’s spokesperson, Lumka Oliphant, whose cellphone numbers are also not really readily available to ordinary citizens, was of no assistance either.
At first she agreed to assist us in resolving the query we had lodged on behalf of an entity that had submitted an application for registration as a non-profit organisation (NPO). After two days of silence, we sent her another WhatsApp message inquiring about progress, to which she responded with a terse: “I have forwarded it to my colleagues. Thanks.” After we asked her to provide us with the contact details of her colleagues in question, she went to ground. She did not respond to subsequent calls and WhatsApp messages. That was before she was suspended on an unrelated matter.
This week marks exactly three-and-half months since the said entity lodged the application for registration as an NPO and officials are inexplicably refusing to give the status of the application.
One of the few refreshing exceptions was the Department of Public Service and Administration, the custodian of the government’s Batho Pele Principles, which seek to create a healthy relationship between the public service and the country’s citizens.
We made a call to the switchboard operator at 15h59, a minute before knock-off time, on a Tuesday. The switchboard operator promptly answered and kindly gave us the email address of Chief Director: Communications Moses Mushi.
WSAM sent Mushi an email the following morning, to which he responded three hours later. But he referred us to David Jacobs, a chief director in the Government Communication Information System (GCIS) instead.
We sent Jacobs a detailed email about our frustrations in trying to reach officials in some of the government departments. He promised to engage his colleagues in the departments in question and revert to us with a detailed response.
But his intervention did not yield the desired outcomes two weeks after we approached him.
The eight Batho Pele (People First) Principles – consultation, service standards, access, courtesy, information, openness and transparency, redress and value for money – seek to portray the government in a positive light through outstanding professional conduct and action.
Principle 5 promises citizens they “will get full, accurate and up-to-date facts about services you are entitled to”. It goes on to say contact names and numbers should appear in all departmental communication materials.
Principle 7 says: “Mechanisms for recording any public dissatisfaction will be established and all staff will be trained to attend to your complaints fast and efficiently.” It adds that complaints by citizens must be treated sympathetically.
