Customer Satisfaction Levels Are On The Up

South Africa -- The latest Customer Satisfaction Survey from Johannesburg shows that in general, people are happier with their city. Businesses in particular are pleased. And the long-term outlook is good, too.

By Emily Visser

JOBURGERS have more confidence in their City, according to the 2007 Customer Satisfaction Survey. It found that general satisfaction – combining business and households – was up two points from 60 index points a year ago.

Business confidence in the City has also increased, rising from 58 to 64 index points.

Executive Mayor Amos Masondo released the latest findings on 21 November. The household satisfaction survey was conducted among 3,000 residents in the City's seven regions. The business satisfaction survey was conducted
among 500 formal and 250 informal businesses.

When results for business and residential surveys were combined, there was a slight upturn in satisfaction ratios, with the total level of satisfaction sitting at 62 index points. Although this was still not as high as the satisfaction
level of 68 points the City received in 2005, Masondo noted that, "The results show that there is still a broad feeling among participants in the poll that Johannesburg delivers services of a good quality and that life in the city is improving."

Overall satisfaction among households was relatively stable - from 61 to 60 index points. The mayor pointed out that international experience was that there was a lag between improvement in service delivery and its effect on
public perceptions. It was expected that satisfaction would increase as major infrastructure upgrades and programmes took effect in the next year or two.

Over 43 percent of households rated overall service delivery as good or very good, more than 27 percent was undecided and almost 29 percent thought it was poor or very poor. In comparison, almost 50 percent of businesses
rated service delivery to be good or very good, 34 percent was undecided and just more than 16 percent found services to be poor.


Great community services

The City received positive ratings (67 index points) regarding community services, "indicating year-on-year increases", said Rashid Seedat, the executive director of the central strategy unit, who commissioned the study.
"Parks and public toilets were rated at excellent levels."

Similarly, the rating for Johannesburg metro police also increased.

Satisfaction levels were measured among households and businesses in six broad categories:

• Basic services (electricity, water, refuse collection, sanitation, roads, stormwater, street lights);

• Community services (fire and ambulance, municipal bus services, public toilets, parks, pavements, street sweeping);

• Public safety and by-law enforcement;

• Billing, payment and enquiries;
  Communication efficiency; and

• Corruption

Satisfaction was measured on a 10-point scale, with one extremely low and 10 extremely high. "If a rating was below five, the person was asked to give reasons for the rating," Seedat confirmed.

The City manager, Mavela Dlamini, said there would be "interventions … in those areas noted as concerns". "We will build into our business plans [Integrated Development Plans] the outcomes of the results so that interventions can take place."

Seedat said that ratios were particularly influenced by residents who still did not have basic services. "What you will see over and over again [in the survey] is how not having access to basic services results in a lack of
satisfaction, driving the negative ratios up."


Five common concerns

The three biggest concerns for residents and businesses alike were unemployment, crime and HIV/Aids, followed by housing and healthcare.
Masondo cautioned that the city faced global challenges such as migration and rapid urbanisation and that the findings should be put in context. "As a collective we are forever finding solutions [and] address areas of concern
all the time."

Noting that people's major concerns have not changed since 2003, the City has embarked on major infrastructure upgrades of electricity, water, sanitation, safety, housing and others over the last five years and will continue to do
so.

Ros Greeff, the member of the mayoral committee for infrastructure and services, said there had been real reductions in City Power outages since the City had started aggressive infrastructure investments in the last few
years. "We will continue to become more and more aggressive in terms of our interventions."

Unemployment is addressed through an extensive Extended Public Works Programme; the establishment of an independent economic develop directorate; continued emphasis on the development of small, medium and micro enterprises; among other things.

A safety strategy is in place and the City aims to employ 4,000 metro police officers by 2010. At the same time it is enhancing its by-law enforcement capabilities.

HIV/Aids is a mayoral priority. "Our approach is informed by the need for openness, prevention and care for the affected and infected," Masondo said.


External influences

The study noted that findings on satisfaction should be seen as relative and must be viewed within context. "It is a measure of the performance of municipal services in relation to a set of customer expectations at a given point in time [2007]."

Expectations and the external environment in which residents live are often outside the control of the municipality. "In fact, higher expectations in general increase the risk of lower satisfaction levels," the report noted.

And the results indicate that in general, expectations around service delivery had risen exponentially, with residents blaming their dissatisfaction on a lack of refuse collection services, no electricity and no running water, among
other factors.

The study also noted that external environmental factors that may have had an effect on the decline in satisfaction ratings included prominent media exposure of electricity provision problems, the negative national crime statistics released at the time, growing traffic congestion, heightened expectations because of development in neighbouring communities and public service labour strikes.

In comparison, business confidence grew as a result of the positive economic growth of South Africa in general.

Going up

What's more, the customer satisfaction survey showed that public perception of service delivery in Johannesburg would improve in the next 12 to 18 months as a number of big infrastructure projects got under way. These include the Bus Rapid Transit system, further electricity infrastructure upgrades, the inner city regeneration programme, and work in Ellis Park, Berea and Hillbrow, which will undergo major rejuvenation in the run up to 2010.

The study was conducted by the Bureau of Market Research (BMR) at the University of South Africa on behalf of the City. The BMR also undertook the last two years' surveys. Johannesburg has done surveys of this nature of
residents and businesses for the last five years, identifying key needs and priority areas related to service delivery and shaping its Integrated Development Plans according to the results.

It intended to continue monitoring customer perceptions in the medium to long-term and would also look at what other cities were doing, always searching for best practises, Masondo stressed. "Over and above, it should be noted that the City is spending money to improve infrastructure."

Story by Emily Visser. Published with the kind permission of Johannesburg News Agency.