More dispute within the ANC

I don't know whether this is just a publicity stunt for ANC or what? with all the disputes that they have everytime when elections are close by. The dispute between ANC members seems to be getting worse and worser, I was surprised to read an article were our Deputy President Kgalema Montlante seems to be blaming President Jacob Zuma for dismissal of Julius Malema to read more... www.news24.com . This shows that there is no unity, trust and transparency within the ANC.

Organisation can no longer afford to be opaque, as transparency has related outcome and has more benefits than cost. Transparency increases the level of trust in the organisation, transparency has become a necessity in organisations in order for the organisation to gain trust in everything that they do and what society expects them to do.


Deputy President Kgalema Montlante publicty reveals that
President Jacob made a mistake by expelling Malema
source: www.mydreamcourse.co.za

 

Not only has transparency important but it is also a critical foundation for a good relationship between the organisation and its public and between members of the same organisation.

If our government could apply this principle alot can change, along with increasing trust, transparency also increases level of accountability in organisations.

Brand Recognition

Brand recognition refers to how people connect a brand with a product, name, tag line or other attributes. Which gets me thinking how is South Africa as a brand being viewed?
As a country we have been getting lots of negative publicity e.g

• The mine workers strike.
• 45 mine workers loosing their lives during the strike while fighting for better wages.
• Julius Malema disrespecting our president in  the media.
• Truck drivers strike and some trucks getting burned in the process.

South Africa as a country is a brand and whatever happens in this country is a reflection of our brand to other countries. Brand recognition refers to what people are familiar with and it is both the brand it self and the traits associated with the brand. Brand awareness looks at both the negative and the positive, looking at South Africa the negative seem to be out shinning the positive publicity that we get as a country. the negative publicity still cast cloud over  positive publicity or positive thing that we do as a country, and one of the reasons for that is the media, yes it si their job to be watchdos of society but they seems to be focusing on the negative than positive.

We can not blame other countries or people for having bad perception about our country, because people act on their perceptions and facts that are presented before which is the negative media coverage that we ahve been getting as a country.

Women and child abuse campaigns effective enough?

Each and everyday women and children are
being striped of their dignity
picby: www.zeldaily.com

Each and very year the government sets a budget that will go towards campaigns against women and child abuse, not to mention that last month we were celebrating Women's Day, the truth of the matter is women and children are still being abused each and everyday. Minister of police Nathi Mthethwa announced that the latest statistics on sexual offence decreased by 3.7% and rape decreased by 1.9% but according to the National Freedom Party says the sexual offence against women and children are still too high in South Africa compared to other countries, to read More....www.timeslive.com

This is a job well done to the Minister of  police, but with all the money that is being invested in campaigns, adverts and programmes that the government has inverted to fight against children and women abuse, I cant stop to wonder if these campaigns are effective enough t? do we lack resources to deal with such crimes?

Minister Nathi Mthethwa has put a strategy in place, that more resource are needed and better training of police to deal with such crimes. There is a lot to in to have  an effective campaign , I think the Minister should rethink  the strategies that he puts in place because there is no use in investing in  programmes that are not beneficial or do not make a difference.

Is this becoming a trend and does the media have a role in this?

'let call a National Platinum strike" says National protest leader , which got me thinking whether this is just a trend or formation of a public opinion. Public opinion is a collective views of expression by a group of people that have the same interest or concerned at that particular time, when opinion becomes strong enough they lead to verbal or behavioural action, one could not stop to  wonder whether this is the situation in Mines, as more mine workers have joined the Lonmin Mine workers on their strike that started two months back  and in the process 45 people lost their lives, to read more... www.timeslive.com
 


miners sing and chant outside the mine as the strike continue
picture by: www.ctpost.com

The issue at mines is regarded as hot issue public because the miners started being active after media exposure, this bring us to my question whether the media is the driving force behind these continuous strikes?  this seems to be the trend in the mining industry , does the media have a role in influencing mine workers from Anglo American Platinum and Gold Field to join in the strike, or does this seem as the right thing to do at the moment?



characteristic's of Public Opinion

• It has an objective
• It last until the objective had been meet
• It has a scope
• It has a long lasting implications
• It has a structure and can influence pattern or behaviour

There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel as Lonmin mine strike seems to be wrapping up.

There's time for everything

Opportunist Julius Malema and the former ANCYL president
addressing the crowd at the memorial service of
the mine workers at Nort West (Marikane Mines)
picture by:telegraph.co.uk

It is sad how ANC members turn every event into a rally. The recent strike at Marikane Mines were were workers were killed by the police while they were fighting for their rights, to read more...www.sowetanlive.com

A person could ask themselves why do people have to die fighting for their rights ?what is happening is no difference to the events that took place during apartheid were people died for freedom. What are our political leaders doing? instead of working together  to solve these problems but instead they using each and every opportunity they get to badmouth each other, this on it's own is not good for this country because its shows that we are not united as a country.

This tragic accident has been sad to everyone but for Malema this was just a medium or an opportunity to tell grieving people that our president is a "coward" www.timeslive.com  , how can one try to top score political points when people are mourning for their loved ones? this was very insensitive of him and was taking advantage of the situation because he was appealing to peoples emotions considering the pain they are going through, the families that lost their loved ones were not interested in political disputes but came to the memorial service to come to terms with what happened.

There's time for everything and everything has it's own time, our political leaders should take this into consideration.

Communication break down

Mine workers from the Marikane Mines stricking for better
wages and better living conditions in the hostel
picture: www.sowetanlive.com

It is very sad how communication break down between two parties can turn into a sad tragedy, were 34 miners lost their lives and 78 were injured at the Marikane mine  at North West. This incident took place last week Friday,  this was caused by a wage dispute between the mine workers and and the top management of the mine, to read more.....  www.sowetanlive.co.za .

This shows that there was no communication between the organisations internal stakeholders and it's top management. It is very important for organisation to communicate with it's internal members(workers)  so that issues could be addressed in time and be resolved within the organisations without involving a third party or the media. Communication breakdown between the two parties did not only end peoples lives but the reputation of the organisation was also ruined in all this.

The question that comes to my mind, is what is the organisations  Public Relations Practitioner (PRP ) going to do to rebuild the reputation/brand of the organisation ? And bear in mind even the most successful business established can be brought down after facing a controversy, this can be extremely damaging and it has been proven that rebuilding an organisation reputation is harder than starting it from scratch.

change is good

President Jacob Zuma reshuffles his cabinet.
picture by: thenewage.co.za

A vigorous, adaptive organisation system(organisation ) remains so because of the process of learning and self renewal, this is one way that organisations use in order to stay relevant by bringing in new people and skills.

 On the 02 August 2012 our President Jacob Zuma applied this principle of systems should constantly change and renew themselves. Cabinet reshuffling is an event that occurs regularly, when the head of government rotates or changes the positions of ministers in the cabinet, to read more on who has been replaced by who or who are the new ministers in the cabinet www.timeslive.com

Reasons why the cabinet should be reshuffled:

• Replace resigned, retired and dead ministers.
• Bring in fresh skills.
• Remove poor performers.
• Reward hard workers within the cabinet.
• Create and rename departments.
• Reassign responsibilities to departments.

Change is always good but constant change can affect continuity and can bring disruptive to the governance and to delivery of services, the question that rises is, is the change about the performance of the ministers or is our president building a wall with people who would re-elect him and is he dismissing people who are a treat to him?