The Lusaka City Council (LCC) has introduced a toll free line for reporting nuisances.
On Monday, Lusaka Province Minister Bowman Lusambo revealed that he will soon engage the Council to step up efforts to bring sanity in the city following a massive clean up of the Central Business District by the defence forces.
Residents can now call 4747 to report nuisances and other related matters happening in their localities.
The toll free line is housed by the Public Health Department with a dedicated officer to receive and document complaints from members of the public.
According to LCC Acting Public Relations Manager George Sichimba, the service is currently available only to Zamtel subscribers.
Mr Sichimba however said the lines for Airtel and MTN subscribers will soon be activated.
He said the move has been taken following numerous complaints by members of the public that calling LCC to report nuisances using their talk time is expensive.
“The local authority values all the tips received from residents as officers of the council may not be everywhere at any given time,” Mr Sichimba said.
And the LCC has has constituted a team comprising Public Health Inspectors, Council Police and State Police to conduct random operations for underage alcohol drinking and patronage of drinking places during the long weekend.
Mr Sichimba said the operation will also be extended to bar and night club operators who may be tempted to operate outside the stipulated hours.
“The council is aware that during holidays such as the forthcoming one people, especially young ones, tend to be over excited and begin to indulge themselves in alcohol consumption and other illicit activities. The local authority hopes that youths will celebrate their day within the confines of the law,” he said.
“with a dedicated officer to receive and document complaints from members of the public”. Can one person handle the whole city of lusaka? this lucks some seriousness to me. create a call centre. It is a good idea otherwise.
He has not advised what will happen to the offenders, is it beatings or jail time?
Really laughable…you just open a toll free line for General complaints without specifics..have got the facilities in place to respond to the issues urgently? Even in developed countries it takes them up to 7 days to respond to flytipping issues. Bowman send a group of council officals to Rwanda, Australia, RSA after the comeback let them brainstorm issues. Dont just make pronouncements to appease Lazy Lungu.
@ Juliet Perth. The threat of beatings is more effective especially by men in uniform. Jail time entails judicial processes which go on forever in Zed.
Knowing the work ethics of this lazy govt this line is probably open from 9-12 then break off for lunch 14 – 16:40 Monday to Friday…really laughable.
That’s right for easy communication