Cape Town - With more than seven million emergency calls to 10111 being dropped and police call centres operating with 41.5% of the ideal staff complement, the situation was dire but came as no surprise to anti-crime activists who received complaints from community members daily.
The statistics were based on feedback from Police Minister Bheki Cele for the financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22, and from April 1, 2022 until present, following a parliamentary question by DA MP Andrew Whitefield.
Whitefield wanted to know how many staff there should be and how many people were actually employed at each 10111 centre, as well as the number of dropped calls that had been recorded in respect of each call centre
While the ideal number for the 2020/2021 year was 3 344, a total of only 1 392 staff were employed. The 2021/2022 period required the same number of staff as the previous year, but only 1 354 call centre staff were employed and since April last year, only 1 315 emergency call centre staff were in the employ of SAPS.
Despite low staff numbers across the country, the Western Cape saw 183 staff employed for the 2020/2021 period, which was 102% of its ideal number and 174 for the 2021/2022 period, which was 97% of its ideal number
Meanwhile, provinces like Mpumalanga and the Free State are only at 23% and 25% capacity, respectively.
In the past three years, more than three million calls have been dropped in Gauteng, the highest in the country, and more than 800 000 in the Western Cape, the statistics showed.
Cele said dropped calls referred to abandoned calls that could not be answered, calls abandoned in 10 seconds which were terminated by the caller before the call could be transferred to a call-taker, calls abandoned in more than 10 seconds and calls terminated by the caller after being transferred to a call-taker to answer.
In total, dropped call statistics over the past three financial years were 895 280 for the Western Cape, 3.83 million for Gauteng, 271 746 for the Eastern Cape, 632 642 for KwaZuluNatal, 1.44m for Mpumalanga and 30 181 for the North West.
Three provinces (Free State, Limpopo and Northern Cape) were unable to provide any feedback as the current call manager functionality did not make provision for the retrieval of the statistics.
“The SAPS is in the process of upgrading the software,” said Cele.
Whitfield said South Africa’s 10111 call centres were in a state of crisis. “The 10111 number is for any emergency that requires a police response, but more than seven million calls being dropped highlights that understaffed call centres are not even able to answer calls from South Africans under threat of violence by criminals.
“During this period only 4 061 of the ideal number of 10 032 staff members were employed at 10111 centres across South Africa’s nine provinces.
“This represents just 40.48% of the required staff.
“The 10111 number is the only line of defence some of our people have as they struggle against the unrelenting tide of crime sweeping across South Africa.
We cannot allow South Africans to be abandoned and become even more defenceless due to the inability of the police to respond to emergencies,” he said
Delft CPF chairperson Charles George said: “This is a big problem with people not having access at the right time, their time of need. We see it on a daily basis, people calling and not getting through.
“It’s a vicious cycle. The fruit of that is the bundu (bush) court happening in the community, who decide, ‘let us take action, nobody else will’. That’s the fruits of a failed system
“You always have to look at what’s happening in the community, in the township the community is not upset over one issue, it’s many issues, it’s a build up.
“It can be fixed. We have to look at technology within the 21st century and what the best way to empower the community.
“Now it’s them versus us. I called them, they never responded but if I called us, we responded.
“We need to use technologies to build bridges between them and us and make it one.
“If you look at 911, within seconds you have police support, we need to look at upgrading our technology.”
Crime fighter Hanif Loonat said: “I am aware of this and it is something totally unacceptable. This is something we need to deal with urgently; 10111 is your last resort when you don’t get responses from local SAPS.
“They need to jack up and start investing, making it an accessible and easy route to get assistance from SAPS.
“(It’s) unlike before, well over 12, 13 years (ago), (when) you used to get instant response and assistance.
“A person calling 10111 is an emergency, it’s something very urgent, it’s desperation. Imagine them not answering those calls. It’s totally unacceptable.”
He also called for a horses-for-courses approach to policing.
“If you look at the Western Cape, for example, while I was a CPF chairperson, the vehicles for 10111 are not conducive for the terrain...
The minister and commissioner of police at head office need to start considering that one size does not fit all the areas.”
“What applies to JHB might not apply to CPT.
“The strategy they are using is a one size fit all strategy.
“Policing differs from area to area.
“They don’t have correct people advising them.
“A policeman might be good at policing but not good at being a strategist.”
Whitfield said he would be writing to the chairperson of the National Assembly’s police committee to request that the national police commissioner prepare a comprehensive turnaround plan for 10111 centres across the country within 30 days, to be tabled in Parliament when it reconvenes.
Cape Times