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The Eastern Cape Legislature has issued a damning report on the state of health of 10111 Call Centres and Flying Squad operations in the Eastern Cape.
The report scheduled for debate this afternoon, has called for the redeployment of the provincial Commander of the 1011 and Flying Squad units "as he has failed to manage and support the units".
The committee has also called on the SAPS in the Eastern Cape to prioritise the 10111 and Flying Squad centres "as they are the electronic face and the heartbeat of the SAPS for better service delivery".
With regard to Mthatha, the committee reports that the voice logging system is currently "not functional," equipment is out of date and there is a shortage of vehicles.
In addition, the construction of the new Mthatha 10111 centre, due for completion in 2014, has been stalled "due to the fact that the appointed contractors abandoned the project because he had under-quoted".
The committee says the Mdantsane Flying Squad unit has "completely collapsed and service delivery seriously compromised" by among other things the "dilapidated" state of the building, staff shortages and outdated equipment.
It says the unit was closed down by the Department of Labour in March last year "due to it not being safe and suitable for human occupation".
With regard to East London, the committee states that the radios are out of date and were designed for use in vehicles and not a call centre, while the Flying Squad in the city suffers from challenges associated with vehicles that often take more than two months to repair.
As far as King William’s Town is concerned, the Flying Squad has only seven vehicles but is expected to cover an area that includes Peddie, Alice and Stutterheim.
With regard to the 10111 call centre in Port Elizabeth, the report says that the telephones at the centre are "old and outdated with no headsets", while the automatic call dispatcher is "not operational and the radio system is very old".
Only nine of the 21 vehicles allocated to the Flying Squad in PE are "functional" with seven in the garage because of accidents and mechanical faults and four in the process of being withdrawn from service.
(Source: Metrominute - to subscribe mail metiminutes@iafrica.com)
