By Nangamso Mabindla
27 October 2005

IN A quest to improve communication with its citizens, Buffalo City has identified multi-purpose community support centres as one way to get closer to the people.

It has identified sites for three pilot centres, in King william's Town, Mdantsane and Duncan Village. If these are successful, it will expand the project to other areas. It is an initiative of the City and the Swedish International Development Agency.

City communications manager Darby Gounden said the centres could have offices for provincial and national government services. Other interested stakeholders could also set up office at the centres.

"Our city emphasizes a people-centred approach and that means we need to be customer-orientated," Gounden said.

"Our integrated development plan refers to the provision of support centres for our communities and it is our obligation to keep our communities informed about the services we deliver to them."

Multi-purpose support centres were also expected to speed up service delivery.

Community Support Centres International consultant Anna Otsman said such centres would not only help the City improve communications, but would also improve service delivery.

"When people have queries about service delivery and other functions, we need to handle those very effectively so that the customer is happy," she said.

At present only 61 percent of queries were handled effectively and customers were not happy.

"We need to improve in that area if we are serious about service delivery. Other customers complain about long queues in our offices while others have to travel long distances for help," Otsman said.

The centres needed to house all municipal departments.

Some customers had to travel from King William's Town, Dimbaza and Bhisho to East London for help. In response, the City undertook the feasibility study into three pilot sites for multi-purpose community support centres - in King William's Town, Mdantsane and Duncan Village.

In King William's Town the Civic Centre was identified.

Klas Goth, an architect from the Stockholm municipality in Sweden, said they chose the civic centre because it was a municipal building and it already performed some of the functions needed at a community centre.

"We also needed a community support centre that was part of the urban context, attractive and safe and had good communications."

As the Civic Centre was close to the town's Main Road, the central business district and the taxi rank, it was an ideal place for a community centre.

"We also wanted to use existing municipal structures and resources, and places that are easily identified by our customers," he said.

In Mdantsane the team identified the community hall and library and in Duncan Village the Gompo Hall as possible sites for multi-purpose community support centres. The three pilot centres should be up and running by December 2006.