CITY OF EKURHULENI Launches WhatsApp Business Channel for the community

The City of Ekurhuleni is thrilled to announce the launch of the Siyakhoka WhatsApp Business Channel, which is set to revolutionise the way residents connect with the city. WhatsApp, as one of the world’s most popular messaging apps with over 2,44 billion users globally, is renowned for its fast, easy, and secure communication. By introducing Siyakhoka, the city aims to enhance customer experience and make it even more accessible to people who prefer to use messaging apps as their primary mode of communication.

What is Siyakhoka?

Through the Siyakhoka WhatsApp Business Channel, residents can now connect with the city through their smartphones and receive prompt responses to their inquiries or feedback. This channel is designed to provide a seamless and efficient customer experience, allowing users to interact with the municipality at their convenience without having to visit a physical office or make a phone call. Residents can report issues such as meter readings, potholes, broken streetlights, water leaks, and other municipal

service-related matters and receive timely updates on the progress of their response.

Using Siyakhoka to tackle municipal challenges

Like most municipalities in South Africa, the City of Ekurhuleni faces a number of challenges in delivering services and meeting the needs of its residents. With a population of more than 4 million, the city’s economy makes up to 21 percent of the total economic output of the Gauteng province and 77 percent of the national production. Prior to the launch of Siyakhoka the municipality provided residents with a Customer Care Centre platform to address residents’ inquiries.

Due to high volumes of inquiries and service requests, the municipality struggled to respond to resident’s needs in a timely manner. In addition, the municipality faced challenges with effectively communicating with its residents, which often led to misunderstandings and dissatisfaction with municipal services.

Siyakhoka is designed to create muchneeded transparency between the city and its residents. They also have the option of making payments using Masterpass, which is a digital wallet service designed to enhance the safety and convenience of online payments, by storing all their payments in a single and secure location.

Benefits for the city

Effective debt collection and account reconciliation can lead to several benefits for a municipality such as Ekurhuleni. Firstly, it can generate better funding for the municipality to improve its services. Secondly, it can reduce errors and costs associated with the billing process. Thirdly, it can result in a faster query resolution and reduce costs related to the termination or reconnection of services caused by payment delays or errors. In addition, it can shorten the turnaround time between the distribution of bills and payments, reduce bank charges and third-party service fees and save on postage and printing costs.

This further contributes to the municipality’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. Ultimately, these benefits translate into cost savings as the staff can be better utilised to enhance the quality of service delivery to the community.

Ekurhuleni Chief Information Officer, Mr. Moloko Monyepao, said the city is excited to enhance its customer service offering and provide prompt, efficient service that meets the expectations of modern consumers.

“With this mobile application, you can view and download your municipal bills, and capture and submit your meter readings during each billing cycle. And with the power of WhatsApp, you will be able to interact with the City directly, just as you do with your family and friends,” said Monyepao.