Similar to the Netherlands’ Kafka Button, a hotline that enables people to report frustrating bureaucracy, the City of Cape Town has implemented a “stupid rule” button on staff desktops that they should use to call attention to any customs, ways of working, or stupid rules they have to follow in their daily work.
It forms part of its “I Mean Business” campaign and aims to promote an ease-of-doing-business mindset amongst staff, improve general customer experiences, and make it easier for businesses to thrive in Cape Town.
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“This is part of our “I Mean Business” campaign aimed at City staff. In this way, we aim to improve the ease of doing business in Cape Town and enhance the general service delivery experience of Capetonians by removing all self-imposed red tape that is unnecessary, inflexible, redundant, or too bureaucratic to deliver a service quickly and easily,” said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
Mayor Hill-Lewis has set the goal of making Cape Town the easiest place in Africa to do business.
The “I Mean Business” campaign is one of several initiatives in this regard. Others include:
- Upgrades to digital platforms for development applications, property certification and other important economic processes.
- Enhancing e-services for municipal billing and online appointment systems for, inter alia, vehicle licensing.
- The improvement of digital platforms for reporting problems with how the City of Cape Town delivers services.
- Calls for the National Treasury to get rid of a number of unnecessary rules in the law on municipal procurement.
- Investment incentives include one-stop investment facilitation, an incentive-based electricity tariff, the waiving of fees, and fast-tracking of development applications.
“Once City staff hit the stupid rule button, the report is sent to the Executive Director of the relevant directorate who will allocate a team to investigate. Once this investigation is done, steps will be actioned to either amend, explain or remove the rule. The officials who work within these parameters on a daily basis have first-hand experience of how processes can be improved. We are looking forward to receiving their feedback,” said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
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