By Dirk Kotzé- DA Councillor Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality
Note to editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Dirk Kotzé and Sesotho by Cllr Kabelo Moreeng.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on Mangaung Metro Municipality (MMM) to urgently establish effective crisis management protocols to prevent a repeat of the current prepaid meter firmware update crisis, which has left residents frustrated and without support. This critical update, intended to enable prepaid meters to accept a 24-digit water token, has been mishandled, revealing significant failings in MMM’s communication and preparedness.
Originally set to begin on 04 November, the update was prematurely implemented on 01 November, causing tokens purchased by residents to generate an “017” error code, rendering them unusable. MMM’s management showed a clear lack of coordination and communication, leaving IT teams, management, and residents without essential real-time updates and resolution timelines—an oversight that severely impacted residents.
Residents have struggled to obtain support from the unresponsive Mangaung Call Centre, which offered no dedicated Incident Response Team to monitor the upgrade or handle emerging technical issues. This left many calls unanswered or abruptly disconnected, frustrating residents further. The absence of a second-level technical support team highlights MMM’s failure to provide adequate customer assistance and maintain operational stability during such critical updates.
Compounding the issue is MMM’s decision to assign Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Zuziwe Thekiso to manage this crisis, despite the recent appointment of Motshidisi Mphatlhane as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). As CTO, Mphatlhane should have taken charge of assessing and managing this update to ensure stability, prompt issue resolution, and system security.
The DA is also dismayed by City Manager Sello More’s inaction on our May 2023 proposal to implement an automated contact centre equipped with Intelligent Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology. This system would have allowed residents to access self-service options, accurately route requests, and reduce call centre congestion by enabling efficient management of common inquiries such as balance checks or service reporting.
Our proposal further recommended an upgraded Mangaung website to support online reporting of service issues, a step that would alleviate pressure on the overwhelmed call centre. These measures would have significantly reduced wait times, improved response rates, and enhanced resident satisfaction during critical service disruptions.
The DA urges MMM to immediately revise its crisis management approach and establish a robust communication strategy to better support residents during system updates. The DA will actively monitor MMM’s actions and advocate for accountable leadership to prevent such crises from affecting our community in the future.