Government is considering consolidating all its departmental call centres under one umbrella, Presidency director-general Vusi Mavimbela said on Wednesday.

Briefing the media in Pretoria, and Cape Town via a video link, he noted that there was a "multiplicity" of such call centres, but said that they were not all "functioning optimally".

Mavimbela also announced that the Presidential hotline would be moving to the soon-to-be-established Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration Department within the Presidency.

The planned move had prompted thinking "about consolidation of all government hotlines... part of a rationalisation we might have to look at".

According to a briefing document handed to journalists, the Presidential hotline has, to date, "logged about 44 000 queries and of these about 20 000 have been resolved".

Mavimbela said that the hotline was seen as an "early-warning system" by government.

It had also been decided to make the hotline's "resolution rate" a standing item - featuring "at least once per month" - at Cabinet's regular meetings, he said.

Since its inception in October last year, the Presidential hotline has been heavily criticised by many individuals and organisations that have battled to get through to the toll-free 17737 number.