DIRCO Annual Report

Complaints mechanism Current/actual complaints mechanism

Desired complaints mechanism

Actual achievements

A formal complaints resolution process was established in compliance with the Chief Directorate: Consular Service Quality Management System’s requirements. These processes are as follows: Legalisation Section: Walk-in customers per appointment due to COVID-19 protocols can provide feedback on their acknowledgement of receipt forms. The statistical information received is captured on the daily register. If a poor performance was received, the official who dealt with the enquiry must provide a written report on the incident, which is provided to the supervisor. The supervisor then contacts the customer and a suitable resolution or corrective measures are implemented (where applicable). All negative comments are reported to management for analysis and action within one week of lodging the complaint. If the reported complaint involves non-compliance with the Service Delivery Charter, the matter is addressed with the staff member involved When a counter staff member is unable to handle a difficult situation, the supervisor will address the situation or complaint directly with the client A suggestion box is also available within the Legalisation Section reception area for customers to provide suggestions, compliments and complaints. These are addressed by the supervisor with all the COVID-19 protocols observed on such documents 2.3 Organisational environment During the reporting period, the filling of posts continued to be affected by the shortfall on the Compensation of Employees’(COE) budget and as a result, the department could only fill one critical vacancy, namely the Chief Information Officer. The department is also in the process to review the departmental structure, as one of the measures to manage the COE budget and this will be finalised in the new financial year.

Ensure continuous alignment of consular services with the approved Departmental Complaints and Compliments Management Framework To minimise complaints from the public through excellent service delivery

Compliment and complaint procedures have been aligned with DIRCO’s Compliments and Complaints Framework Feedback is analysed daily, and customer complaints and compliments are addressed accordingly. The management is appraised with reports on a monthly basis, including the statistics

2.4 Key policy developments and legislative changes The Foreign Service Act, 2019 (Act 26 of 2019) was assented to by the President on 26 May 2020 and published in the Government Gazette on 4 June 2020. The legal process to finalise the regulations, codes and guidelines is underway. Once this is done, the President will proclaim a date on which the Act will come into operation. This means the Foreign Service Act will come into effect on a date still to be determined by the President.

Annual Report 2020/2021 I Vote No. 6

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