Johannesburg property-owners who are unhappy about the service they receive particularly at the walk-in-customer service centres city-wide, can talk directly with their area managers.

The City’s Spokesman Kgamanyane Maphologela says the City is serious about improving customer service, as this is part of the City’s ten point plan of running a responsive and pro-poor government.

“We want our customers to know that, they don’t necessarily have to drive all the way to the main customer service centre in Braamfontein when they have queries; but right at their area they can escalate their queries to the area managers,” says Maphologela.

Maphologela says the City is pushing to ensure that customer service improves significantly. Part of the broader plan to improve customer service is the City’s billing regionalisation project which will be launched on the 1^st February 2017.  The focus of this project will be on customer centricity, allowing customers to choose their own dates in which to settle their accounts between the 15^th and 28^th of every month, improving billing accuracy and ensuring that services move closer to where customers are.

Maphologela says as part of strengthening regional offices, the area managers would be available across all the City’s seven regions, from Soweto to Midrand, where they would deal with customers who have long outstanding queries and are not happy.

“Customers with queries that have a life-span of more than 30 days, can escalate their query by requesting to speak directly to the area manager responsible for their area,” says Maphologela.

Maphologela says customers should always follow the City’s escalation process in order to have their queries resolved quickly, which includes amongst others keeping the reference number after logging a query.  The regional offices will have the photos, cellphone numbers and email addresses on display of the responsible area managers should customers need their details.

The escalation process from when the customer first logs a query:

• Log your municipal related query via the call centre (0860 562 874), regional Customer Service Centre across the City and get a Reference Number
• Queries should be resolved within 30 days. If you have not received any resolution or response, please follow the next step in escalation process
• Escalate your query to the regional manager if your query is still not resolved after 30 days
• If there is still no response after the query has been escalated to the regional manager, speak to the deputy director
• If a customer is still unhappy with the resolution they received from the City, they can contact the City’s Ombudsman office

List of regional managers is as follows:

• Region A (Midrand), Benson Moss Mosweu, mossm@joburg.org.za; 011 203 3331/ 073 117 2356
• Region B (Randburg, Northcliff, Rosebank), Thulisile Nongogo, thulisileno@joburg.org.za; 011 787 7483/084 324 5689
• Region C (Roodepoort), Shaun Govender, shaungo@joburg.org.za; 082 332 3808 / 011 761 0314
• Region D (Soweto), Thomas Tshilongo, thomastsh@joburg.org.za; 011 932 0824/084 763 1005
• Region E (Sandton), Bongiwe Jolipepa, bongiwej@joburg.org.za; 011 628 4174/082 493 7183
• Region F, (Inner-City) Glendah Skosana, glendahs@joburg.org.za; 011 628 4174/082 493 7183
• Region G (Lenasia, Ennerdale), Phumzile Mokone, phumzilemok@joburg.org.za; 011 852 6292/082 301 0529

Regional Deputy Directors responsible for regions:

• Region Deputy Director for region A,B,C,E, F is Arthur Mbobo, arthurmb@joburg.org.za;  011 628-4084, 072 939 4786
• Regional Deputy Director for region D and G is Elias Setelele, eliass@joburg.org.za;   011 628-4482, 071 499 2490

ENDS –

Issued by:
Kgamanyane Maphologela
Director: Communications & Stakeholder Management
Group Finance