Zuma's hotline not hot - DA

2009-10-18 21:55

Johannesburg - The DA has spent almost 13 hours trying to reach President Jacob Zuma's hotline during the past five weeks, with only five calls being answered.

Although there was a decrease in the number of attempts it took to reach an operator on the hotline, the improvements were slight, DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said in a statement on Sunday.

"Out of 51 connected calls only six were answered by an operator. All in all, the DA has spent close to 13 hours (749 minutes) trying to reach the presidential hotline over the past five weeks."

The party had tried to use the hotline to register a series of serious complaints with the presidency, and had heeded calls to pursue other avenues first.

Of the complaints it had registered, it only got reference numbers for two, despite repeated promises that they would be sent.

"The lack of a reference number suggests the complaint has not been properly registered and thus cannot be tracked and the response to it gauged."

The DA attempted to register complaints on the appointment of Paul Ngobeni as Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu's legal adviser, unfinished work on Cape Town's N2 Gateway housing project, allegations of corruption in a local municipality, allegations of bribery at the Nyanga Refugee Centre and to report Nyami Booi, chair of the parliamentary defence portfolio committee, for allegedly taking R92 000 in travel money not entitled to him.

- SAPA