In a period where communities in most parts of the country seem to be complaining about services from government, a platform created for people to raise such issues was always going to be successful.

Long before the Presidential hotline was established, The Limpopo Department of Local Government and Housing had created the Call Centre platform to deal with queries and enquiries from its consumers. It's a toll free number, making it accessible to everyone across the Limpopo province. Today it's working closely with the presidential hotline to ensure queries from Limpopo are dealt with.

Since its inception in 2007, the call centre has dealt with over 100 000 queries. 98% of those have been successfully resolved, with the remaining 2% refereed for further investigations. The Call Centre has assisted over 10 000 people to access their homes some of whom had been sent from pillar to post by various municipalities with little or no progress. At the moment the call centre averages between 950 to 1000 calls per week.

The Call Centre also improves the availability and accessibility of housing information to the public who are far away from service points thus reducing telephone and travelling costs in obtaining service.

One of the people who got help from the Call Centre is Mabatle Boitumelo Edna of Polokwane Extension 76. She had been approved on the Housing Subsidy System but upon checking where her house or site was allocated she found that there is a beneficiary who is already occupying the house. It means that there the same site or house had been allocated to two different people. The call centre agents contacted the Polokwane Municipality to allocate an alternative site for Mabatle. The matter was resolved in no time. She was allocated site 15430 at Polkwane Extension 76 and the same day she got an approval letter and the keys to the house. Ms Mabatle can't stop sining the praises of the Housing Consumer Call Centre. She said "I never thought my problem could be resolved in one day, especially by a government department. I was shocked and extremely happy. I hope they'll continue to assist other like they did to me".

Councilor Enicca Mogofe of Greater Tubatse Ward 20 had a problem of beneficiaries which were reported missing or omitted from the list of those who were supposed to get houses when beneficiary verification was done. Upon checking the list of affected beneficiaries on the Housing Subsidy System it was found that they were approved and entitled to acquire house. As such the call centre agents intervened to ensure the department and municipality submits the names of the beneficiaries to the developer so that they can also get houses. Councilor Mogofe now reports that all the 89 beneficiaries are in their homes.

The Call Centre has also assisted a number of orphans to get shelter. In terms of the departmental policy, orphans, the elderly and people living with disabilities are prioritized.

It does seem that the call centre serves as a catalyst to fast track service delivery and also unblock wherever there are blockages. Through the toll free line customers are able to report and check various issues ranging from:

• Application status
• Incomplete houses on previously approved beneficiaries
• Houses with structural defects
• Duplicate allocation of site numbers
• Orphans without proper shelter
• Beneficiary waiting list
• Fighting for houses of the deceased