The presidency has developed a cellphone application which will be launched in the current financial year for the public to lay complaints, make suggestions and report incidents.

This is according to deputy minister in the presidency Thembi Siweya, who on Friday visited the presidential hotline team to check its effectiveness.

The app will be downloadable from app stores. There will also be WhatsApp and SMS services.

"We want to broaden the space of interacting with our people. The new application will also allow people to follow up on their cases and get progress reports," Siweya said.

The number of calls received on the presidential hotline has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the recent past, government said in a statement, a total of 1,470 calls were logged in the system, and of these 1,365 calls (92.8%) were related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We came here to check how they [staff] are managing. What we found is that they are compliant with the regulations. Not everyone is at the office. Some are working from home," Siweya said.

The hotline, Siweya said, was created as a platform for people to engage with the presidency about issues they needed help to resolve.

"We wanted to see if people are being assisted."

She said about 90% of the calls received by the hotline had been referred to relevant stakeholders.

Siweya said the nature of the calls varied, with some people asking about Covid-19 symptoms.