After 17 continuous years, we have decided not to continue with a Customer Care Competition this year. This decision has taken considerable thought and is based on the belief that the competition had reached the limit of its 'shelf-life'. We are working on a customer service programme to replace it, however, and hope that we will be able to introduce it this year.

We believe that the Chamber has an important role to play in improving customer service in Maritzburg. The programme we are developing will focus on benchmarking rather than competition and will entail a far more thorough assessment process culminating in recognition of the attainment of a high standard of service excellence. It is not yet clear whether the Telkom Perfect Answer will be retained as a separate competition.

We thank all those companies which supported the competition year by year. Many of them sustained an admirably high standard of service. We also thank the various sponsors of the competition over the years, including the so-called 'publicity' sponsors which enabled us to profile the competition in The Witness.