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By: Mthubanzi Mniki

The needs of the ratepayers of Motherwell and KwaMagxaki have been taken care of by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality when two new Customer Care Centres were opened in the areas in March.

Ratepayers in these two areas will no longer have to travel long distances to pay their municipal accounts, do account queries or apply for indigent assistance.

The Customer Care Centres are situated in the Raymond Mhlaba Sports Complex in Motherwell and at the municipal offces at the end of Ralo Street in KwaMagxaki.

This move by the Municipality is in line with effective service delivery and an attempt to improve revenue collection by making municipal services easily accessible to residents.

The two new Customer Care Centres are an addition to the existing customer care centres already operational in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Customer Care Centres are situated in the following areas:

• Cleary Park Shopping Centre

• Daleview Offce at the corner of Hoog and Long Streets

• Despatch offce in Main Road

• Mfanasekhaya Gqobose Building in Govan Mbeki Avenue

• Khayamnandi Offce in Chief Albert Luthuli Street in Despatch

• Korsten Offce in Durban Road

• KwaNobuhle Offce in Ponana Tini Road

• Mthombolwazi Offce in Addo Road

• Ntshekisa Road Offce in New Brighton

• Uitenhage Offce at the Uitenhage Town Hall

• Heugh Road Offce, Sixth Avenue, Walmer

• Johnson Road Offce in Zwide

Budget and Treasury Portfolio Chairperson, Cllr Balu Naran, said opening more customer care centres is an indication that the Municipality is serious about service delivery.

“We want to take the services to where the people live. This will save them time and money on travelling far distances. A customer care centre should always be within reach for our ratepayers,” said Cllr Naran.

Cllr Naran revealed that the NMBM had plans to open more customer care centres in the areas of Soweto-on-sea, Wells Estate and Govan Mbeki Township.

Motherwell NU 6 resident, Nombulelo Mntwini, praised the customer care centre staff at the Raymond Mhlaba Sports Complex for their effcient work ethics.

“I am pleased with the way the staff is attending to our problems. They are warm, welcoming and patient. I really feel that they are committed to solving our problems,’ said Mntwini.

She also thanked the Municipality for answering to the needs of the Motherwell community.

“We thank the Municipality for this offce, it has saved us from a lot of transport expenses and unnecessary stress.”

Another resident, Monica Prance, said that as an elderly citizen, it was diffcult for her to use the local taxis to go to the nearest customer care centre in another area.

“Now I can take a slow walk to the new offce in Motherwell to sort out any problems I have with my municipal account. We are now saving on transport costs and the staff at the new offce is friendly and effcient,” said Prance.

These customer care centres provide an essential service to ratepayers, and are able to assist with account enquiries, debt repayment arrangements, Assistance To The Poor applications, and the purchase of electricity vouchers, among other services.

CUSTOMER CARE CENTRES

UBUNTU COMMUNITY MAGAZINE MARCH I APRIL 2012 19