Good Call For Disabled

17 July, 2008

Story by Derrick Dlamini

It’s only a few weeks old, but the Municipality’s traffic fines call centre is already proving a beacon of hope for disabled men and women who previously felt left out of the government’s developmental initiatives.

The new centre deals with outstanding traffic fines and queries and is manned by 17 disabled young people from different social backgrounds. They received intense training on debt management; call centre handling and communications skills.

A first for South Africa, the centre is the product of a public-private partnership led by the Municipality’s call centre promotion agency, KZNonSource. “The programme brings together disabled people as employees of the Municipality or the private sector. “It is an effort to make them feel part of a wider society,” said KZNonSource Chief Executive William Goldstone.

Natasha Moosa, one of the young people to benefit from the programme said: “Ethekwini must be commended for taking a lead in initiating innovative projects especially for the disabled. “We hope that all will proceed well.” Goldstone said transport to and from the workplace remained difficult for disabled people.

“In view of such challenges, we hope to pioneer an educational programme to make communities more sensitive to issues of disability involving, mainly, assistance in transportation,” Goldstone said. He hailed the Council for the “sterling leadership they’ve displayed throughout this process”. He also commended the Department of Social Welfare and invited the private sector to participate more fully in similar initiatives. The total funding invested in the public-private project runs into several million rand, including computers, equipment and software.

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