112

112 is the Emergency number on all GSM phones. You should be able to dial 112 anywhere on the planet and get help from the police, ambulance, fire or other emergency services.

In South Africa that number does not work.

This blog will be dedicated to making the public aware that this number does not currently function as it should. I will be posting on the results of calling the 112 number from my Vodacom cellphone. I will try to call 112 each day and post the results here. I will also log a complaint for the failed attempts to reach the correct help.

The idea for this blog came after trying to call 112 to report a drunken driver near where I live. I've called 112 six times where it actually rang, and several more where it didn't. In 5 out of the 6 initial calls it disconnected me within 4 minutes (usually some time after 3 minutes). I have in that same time reported the problem 3 times (once after every 2 attempts). The customer care picked up within a minute every time.

According to Shepard, the Vodacom client services manager on duty, the 112 number is routed through the GSM network and is not controlled by Vodacom. Vodacom has an alternate 147 number which was able to route me to a local police station two times within 90 seconds. The third time someone unfortunately took some time to route me to 10111 and not my local police station. But at least he got me to the police! I strongly suggest using 147 in case of an emergency if you are a Vodacom customer.

I think we should get angry at the state of critical services and structures in our country but not convert that anger into unhelpful and damaging sentiments and actions. We should use that powerful emotion to bring about change for the people of this country.