The Ministry of Public Service is rolling out customer service training for public servants across all regions, as government moves to improve the quality of service citizens receive at public offices.
The announcement came from Minister of Public Service, Government Efficiency and Implementation, Zulfikar Ally, who during an interview disclosed that the training is a major priority, particularly for public servants who interface directly with citizens.
He said the initiative forms part of the government’s effort to ensure citizens are treated with respect, dignity, understanding and patience when accessing public services.
“We are embarking now on a customer service training for all of the public servants who have to interface with the public,” Minister Ally said.
The minister explained explained that customer service training will also become a mandatory component for new public servants whose duties require them to interact with the public.
He stated that the objective is to transform the culture of public service delivery and ensure citizens leave government offices satisfied with the assistance they receive.
Minister Ally noted that while many public servants consistently go beyond the call of duty, poor interactions by a few officers can undermine the work of others.
The public service minister stressed that repeated complaints about an officer should also prompt reflection and corrective action.
“We’re going to issue that public service training to every single public servant until we change the culture of our country, we change the culture of service delivery, and we ensure that people are at the forefront of the development of our country,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister disclosed that more than 3,480 public servants have been trained over the past year in various areas, including professionalism and ethics, ICT literacy, project management, digital transformation and customer service.
The expansion of customer service training comes alongside government’s wider efforts to modernise public service delivery, including the establishment of service centres in the regions and the digitisation of government services.
He stressed that modern infrastructure and digital systems would have limited impact if citizens are not treated with the respect and dignity they deserve when interacting with public servants.
DPI
