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Yesterday's response by the Presidency to our statement on the Presidential Hotline released on Friday, is nothing more than a desperate attempt to detract from the hotline's dismal failure when it comes to giving a voice to ordinary South Africans.

Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya stated that the DA was "abusing the system", that the party "should not be calling the hotline" and that the hotline "was meant to be a lifeline for ordinary citizens experiencing genuine service delivery problems". All the complaints that have been registered by the DA up to now deal with issues that affect the ordinary South African - such as promised RDP houses that have not been built, and corruption in government departments. In fact, the most of the complaints registered by the DA have emanated from frustrations voiced by citizens to us, who feel let down by the ANC government.

The truth of the matter is that whether it is the DA making use of the Presidential Hotline, or ordinary citizens, only 13% of all calls to the hotline are answered.

It is appalling that the Presidency is defending this mediocrity instead of addressing the hotline's apparent systemic and infrastructural problems.

While the DA fully supports the notion of a national hotline addressing problems in government, there is a great deal of evidence that the Presidential Hotline is simply a public relations stunt - that it has come no-where near to meeting any of the objectives with which it has been tasked. The recent statistics released by the Presidency support this contention.

If President Zuma is serious about the Presidential Hotline improving "government's accessibility, responsiveness and transparency", the Presidency needs to stop attacking those who have raised valid concerns about the hotline and must instead acknowledge that the hotline is failing to achieve its objectives and must turn its attention to implementing practical measures to ensure that these current problems are rectified immediately.