Crisis Management Tips For Malema

March 4, 2010 by Authentic Views

A few years ago Pick n Pay’s then CEO Sean Summers appeared in various media platforms informing consumers about extortionists who were demanding ransom from the food chain and made threats about poisoned tin-stuff. He made a recall of the alleged poisoned product for a full refund, ordered its temporal removal from the shelves & suspended its sales. This might have been a very challenging time for the Pick n Pay brand; it’s a food store and if there are claims of poison in certain products, how sure would consumers be that other products aren’t poisoned? But a very important decision had to be made or take a risk and hope to spin it off when the media gets hold of the issue.

To this day, Sean Summers is still hailed as the hero: a model for many when managing or addressing crisis. Such cannot be said about other institutions & individuals who experienced the same fate. For some instead of communicating what they see coming, they wait with hope that it will stay in the closet or if it does come out, they think a spinoff will do or just choose to avoid it till it dies a slow death. Some even counter accuse the media as perceived enemies who are out to destroy them.

Malema’s scenario may be different from the one Sean Summers faced on behalf of the Pick n Pay brand but what matters the most is crisis communication. It is crucial to understand that the manner in which the scandal is handled has far more consequences than mere bad press.

Generally in South Africa we have a culture of denial, a state where people, especially politicians, get off the hook or get away with murder. Our history of apartheid tends to be a scapegoat for all sorts of problems politicians often find themselves in and because they have such and such liberation struggle credentials & roles, we therefore have to cover their shame.

Issues surrounding Julius Malema are a typical example of this kind of culture. For sometime Julius’s life style has been the subject of public and media interest, this started from the time he hosted a house warning party in September last year.

PRIMEDIA’s 702 Eye Witness News were the first to draw attention to his business directorships & lavish lifestyle. He denied the reports, giving the same excuse that he has quit since assuming power in Youth League. Even Debora Patta, during an interview towards the end of November 2009 ran an overview of his luxurious items & tried to quiz him about his ability to match those with his only source of income from the ANC.

With these questions lingering, Julius should have known that till he sets the record straight it will always be in the interest of journalists to take a closer look at the matter, to seek satisfaction of their curiosity and that of the readers.

He should have had a response mechanism which would defuse the matter immediately when it blows up. What leads to one’s fall is often the poor handling of the truth when it comes out than the actual issue. Thabo Mbeki’s fall took more than a judgment by Judge Chris Nicholson, he was hated even in the ANC because his reputation was tainted by all the bad press he generated despite the good work he did. There’s a growing perception that Julius Malema is a Mbeki type and that may be proved by his row with communists.

Then he squandered an opportunity to come clean, with all the amount of airtime he has been given in both 702, SA FM as well as when he conducted the press briefing. Again there’s a destructive emerging tendency in South African politicians, the thinking that there are substitutes to telling the truth such as misquoted, taken out of context and all the bureaucracy.

Never believe that you’re invincible by virtue of the position you hold in society or who you belong to in politics. The media has brought down the most powerful people in the world. Instead of pulling the trigger at the messengers with bullying tactics and pointing fingers to everybody, focus on resolving the crisis. In his case it’s now out of control. At the beginning the story only had head, now it has got eyes, legs and arms. Journalists keep exploring all angles, even bringing his Lawyer to it has done nothing to spin the matter.

There’s no amount of tactical spin that can get anyone out of a pickle, admission usually does the trick and disarms opponents, especially in Malema’s position who is not in government. You’d rather be at the mercy of public sympathy and work to regain your respect than being viewed as arrogant. Responses like, “I don’t owe anyone explanation” are the same kind of lame excuses as the one ANC’s Jackson Mthembu tried to give in defense of Zuma’s babygate saga. These have proven ineffective.

Even getting a choir of your fellow comrades to join your chorus isn’t a solution either, untrained voices usually sing out of tune and that’s what is happening with all the voices trying to counter argue his case. You’re better off with one person handling the media, someone different from Floyd Shivambu.

Knowing Julius, he won’t back off and this matter will remain hanging. I don’t foresee any official investigation to it either. With the alleged companies being deregistered due to their non compliance and knowing our political culture, someone will pull up another stunt of popularity and our eyes will be taken off this matter. But he will still go down as Julius: The Poor Communicator.

By: Authentic Views ©

Thank you guys for all your comments thus far. Wow… I’m thrilled. I look forward to hear more.
@ Brown Suga – thank you for all the good spin you put on my grammar errors. Your call caught me of guard & my shyness got the better of me. I’ll give you my scripts for review when I write that book.

Dr_MashobaDieta on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 9:30 am

WOW nice article,,, infact brilliant,,, You read what i ve been preaching ever since this Julius story broke out, if he had came clean the first time this matter wouldn’t have being blown out of propotion like this considering the fact that he is a non-govenment officail and not a member of any legislation.

with that being said i think is too-late for him to come clean now.. as a member of the ANCYL i will advise him to lay-low for now, and let the matter vanish, then he will redeem himself durring the 2011 Local elections campaigns. Let him focus on the Nationalisation of mines for now, and ignore the media if he can??

After all he is still my President.

@BS whats your e-mail address i want to send this other lovely article i ve wrote.

Ke sinya ke realo!!!
MashobaDieta ka mo toroponkgolo ya Tshwane

Makgotso on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 9:30 am

Great writting skill,l will come to you for pointers when lm writting my thesis,lm just lazy to write

thefirstletter on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 9:44 am

nice piece, good writting skills i enjoyed this article it’s captivating

Authentic views on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 10:06 am

Thank you all for your compliments.
@ Dr Mashoba Dieta – I wrote a niece piece about Julius at other blog, after he brought down Debora Patta. Appreciate your views as an ANCYL member.
@ Makgotso – I’ll be honored add value to your academic achievement.
@ the 1rst letter – thank you.

Dr_MashobaDieta on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 10:29 am

@Authentic views u see when i comes to that Debra Patta interview i think he handled her very well, he didn’t allow her to scruitinize his intelectual thinking, but i think he should have handled this “Lavish lifestyle” issue in a different view, I wouldn’t like to be Cdre Shivambo now cos the media is gunning for every leader within us(ANCYL) which is an agenda driven by the imperialists, trying everything in their power to divert of mission to nationalise mines,

which will be abenefit to all young South Africans so if u can put a good word for me with BS i would like to be given this platform to visualise this Nationalisation of Mines to this “for ever vocal JC bloggers” so that they can see what is our(ANCYL) aim and stop depending on media to feed them hogwash..

icognito on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 10:30 am

Love this piece. Cleverly put together, please do write more in future Authentic view. you made some valid points there. There’s a drama/series that I love watching on Mnet called “lie to me” it talks about people’s body languages I’d suggest you watch it and scrutinize every politicians body language when they make public announcements or are interviewed you’d be appalled. One great example is Zuma and using his middle finger to fix his glasses when they fall that according to the universal law of body languages is called “fuck you and I only care about myself”.

Luluwise on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 10:39 am

Great article indeed Authentic Views, its is authentic lol…I have a feeling that wee Julius is listening to far too many voices(in his head and elsewhere. He would really benefit from being well read(expand his knowledge). He seems like a capable chap and can hold his own, but he needs to be careful about who is around him and what influence they have because he sounds schizophrenic most of the times although you can see his “genious”.Or he must just get a good spin doctor. I agree that he seems to think he is invincible and history always shows us that “polotics” are unpredictable and comrades aren’t what they used to be.

Watcher on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 11:50 am

Nice Take Authentic Views…if you have a blog please post link. See another view here http://mukomana-speaking.blogspot.com/
I look forward to reading more from you.

khafo on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 1:06 pm

@ incognito:…….One great example is Zuma and using his middle finger to fix his glasses when they fall that according to the universal law of body languages is called “fuck you and I only care about myself”. LOL

which m-net channel is “lie to me”

J.A.Y. on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 1:10 pm

LOL @ this started from the time he hosted a house “warning” party in September last year.

We were warned.

I try to ignore politics and everything about it – but this was cool to read. Looking frward to more of your Authentic Views.

nana on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 1:12 pm

Gr8 piece AV, well written and formatted
Wish i cud say that abt our juju,
The thing is : Juju will go around acting or behaving like a god becoz he knwz the ANC’s deepest darkest secrets, The fact and the truth is that he is above the law and he knows it, According to him he owes no one no xplanation including the president and the police that he keeps on insisting that we report him to, is Mbalula , Cwele and Mthetho who are also at his mercy.
He is one luck son of a b***h. To be so smart yet so stupid.

nana on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 1:17 pm

meant to write He is one lucky son of a b***h

Mabheka on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 2:15 pm

Brilliant article…This is what we call PR 101 lecture which something every so called spokesperson, communications director etc, should have inscripted at the fore of their brain. Or else they’ll wind up like Saddam’s spokes a.k.a Stupid Ali who said they were winning the war the very same day Saddam’s statue fell

Mogwanthi on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 2:34 pm

tjo Great piece indeed, am for JUJU and his businesses & friends, the only thing i can do is sing
*speechless, speechless that is how they make me feel*

Dimphoza on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 5:08 pm

But my best was when they asked Juju to comment on his Gucci watch and he said journalists are quick to pass judgement, the watch could be a birthday present or fong kong for that matter. Ayi wangiqeda.

Authentic views on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 5:51 pm

Thank you for all the latest comments I just receive,
@ Icognito – I browsed thru “Lie to me” while I was still promo producer, then looking for shots, is in in actual Mnet or one of DSTV?
@ Luluwise – Thanks for those authentic remarks.
@ Watcher – I’ll check ur blog & leave my comments with a link.
@ J.A.Y – Lol… I was warning you to have some laugh, thanks for pointing that out,
@ Nana – Opportunism is the name of political game especially in the post liberation age in Africa, it plays itself thru blackmailing, backstabbing etc… Winners are those who have embarrasing information on others which is what malema has.
@ Mabheka – Lol @ Saddam’s former spindoctor.

Cheesa on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 7:02 pm

Tjoo AV this is great I scrolled down when I was half way reading to see the writer of this master piece. I’m not very good in political issues and I get tired of reading about Julius Malema and his people but I thought let me just read this article and I am amazed like everyone. I agree with BS you are the Mail&Gurdian or Sunday Times type of writer maybe you should consider it. You’re great!!

Lwandle on Thu, 4th Mar 2010 8:36 pm

Authentic Views I enjoyed reading your article,very well written indeed.

Yaa Malema’s issues are typical of African politicians as a whole with a few exceptions.Sadly their behaviour just reinforces in the minds of our former oppressors that oDarkie just can’t handle their business without guidance-you only have to look accross the S.A borders for similar denialists-Mugabe who is now a wrinkled fossil and still denying that there is anything wrong in Zimbabwe, King Mswati jet setting and glob trotting everywhen when the rest of Swaziland is suffering.

Maybe its to do with how they aquire these positions, that makes them not to value the people who voted them in in the first place-(but then again in Africa the ballot has very little to do with who ends up in power)-unlike obo USA etc where leaders need to campaign their heart and souls out and declare every bit of their life to the public.

Malema just got himself in a twist over an issue that potentially would not have made it beyond the tabloids if he had handled it decently. All he had to do is produce the correct documents to support his version of events,but no no that seemed too easy so instead he chose a round about way till the rest of us who initially were not interested actually started perking our ears.

As your article rightfully mentioned,there is really greater honour in simply coming out clean and laying it out there.Its not too late for him to do the right thing and hopefully well written articles like this and everything else being said on the issue will appeal to his humble side.

Jackie on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 5:39 am

WOW!!

Authentic views on Fri, 5th Mar 2010 7:18 am

@ Cheesa – intimate blogs like JC are a good exercise platform to develop your confidence, I’ll get there but have to be prepared coz there you meet egos & arrogance who think they own the space, a newcomer can be viewed as an invider thinks knows better.
@ Lwandle – Mandela sums up Long Walk to Freedom with simple words with broad meaning as “with freedom comes responsibility”. Some of our politicians show lack of understanding the meaning of responsibility, thats why they don’t wanna account for their actions.
@ Jacky – and you all thank you.

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Crisis Management Tips For Malema

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