Africa-Press – Botswana. Water Utilities Corporation must find solutions to perennial customer complaints about high, water bills, leaking pipes and water shortage, land and water affairs minister Dr Kefentse Mzwinila has urged the water authority’s leadership.
He was speaking at the ministry’s three-day strategic retreat held in Lobatse recently.
“We need to address these issues…They are pertinent issues. Our customers must be happy about what we do for them,” he said. The minister said such complaints and similar ones against other departments should challenge them to introspect with a view to improving service delivery and keeping the customer happy.
Minister Mzwinila said such queries could be addressed through embracing technology, such as installation of smart meters, in the case of WUC. The minister however pointed out that the water sector had done generally well despite the customer service issues.
On land issues, Dr Mzwinila asked land boards to be more efficient in dealing with requests and complaints concerning land transfers and land applications. He expressed concern about the speed at which the land boards handled land transfers.
“We are not quick enough in dealing with land transfers,” he said, calling for mind-set change on land boards to ensure they delivered better services with existing resources. However, he said he was generally happy with the overall transformation that had been taking place in the land sector.
There had been improvements in productivity and streamlining of processes such as land surveying, he said. Permanent secretary, Dr Kekgonne Baipoledi said the ministry would strive to continue improving its performance. “The issue of mindset change is [that] of service delivery,” he said, adding they would be cascading to staff. He said they had deployed more staff to the land boards to facilitate efficiency of service delivery.
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