GOVERNMENT departments have been challenged to accept requests and queries from the citizenry and warned against dismissing them as a mere nuisance.
BY TINOTENDA MUNYUKWI
The principal director of the department of Public Affairs in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Mary Mubi, said the complaints that the citizens forward to different ministries ought to be tolerated as they give priceless knowledge on the effectiveness of services that Zimbabwean citizens require.
“We have said to some government ministries that see complaints as being of no value, that if you study the complaints, you will be better able to give the services that people want,” Mubi said on Wednesday during a customer experience and service delivery symposium organised by Contact Centre Association of Zimbabwe.
“Complaints are a knowledge base for understanding how to give customers what they want, so most ministries have adopted complaints handling systems.”
Mubi added that government was refining client service charters that would clearly stipulate the role played by each ministry to allow citizens to hold it accountable should it fail to deliver on its specified mandate.
“We need client service charters in which we ask that as a ministry, what are the key services that you are providing? That which we provide we must tell customers that we provide it in a timely manner, and they complain on the basis of the client service charters,” she said.
This came at a time the OPC is spearheading a campaign to enable ease of doing business in a bid by government to lure foreign investment, and one key component in achieving this has been making service delivery by the country’s ministries effective and efficient.
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Information and Communication Technology and Courier Services deputy minister Win Mlambo said Zimbabwe was trailing in implementing effective customer service strategies, which was a major stumbling block in luring foreign direct investment.
“Zimbabwe still generally lags behind in terms of implementing effective customer service strategies, which is a concern in view of the government’s efforts to attract more foreign investment into the country,” he said.
