Municipal communications, fact or fiction?
Many long nights have been spent waiting for official replies, and although there has been constant communication between the media and Ms Masondo regarding delays, the replies have still been received late every time.
The municipal manager is not gagged; he is just not allowed to speak to the press, according to Mayor, Afzul Rehman.
At a council meeting last Thursday, Cllr Rehman again adamantly denied that a gag had been placed on the municipal manager, Kebone Masange. However, he maintained that all media queries should go through the communications manager, as this would streamline the process.
Added to this fact is that Cllr Rehman will have the final say as to what information reaches the press. Effectively, Mr Masange is still being muzzled.
According to sources, the beleaguered municipal manager fell into disfavour with the leading party following comments he made in previous articles, and the decision to implement a communications strategy would be a fail-safe to stop employees from saying the wrong thing.
As a result, the media can now no longer speak directly to municipal employees.
Instead, a written request for comment must be sent via e-mail, which has caused many delays in getting comment for informative municipal articles out to the public.
It has also cut out the human element. Cllr Rehman also stated at the council meeting; “Any journalist worth their salt will know when they are being lied to.”
Ironically, the decision, which was meant to streamline the process, is now the main cause behind many stories going to print without comment or quotes from the persons directly involved in the incidents that are written about every week.
Citing IT and various other problems, the manager of the Communications Department, Zandile Masondo, is struggling to meet stringent deadlines, set out by her own department, on time.
Many long nights have been spent waiting for official replies, and although there has been constant communication between the media and Ms Masondo regarding delays, the replies have still been received late every time.
Articles have gone to print without municipal comment on various occasions, whereas in the past it was a simple matter of picking up the phone and speaking with the people directly involved, to get the official standpoint on issues regarding the community. According to Ms Masondo in an official response, there is ‘good communication’ between the communications office and the media.
In a query sent to Ms Masondo, the media simply requested an official standpoint on the problems experienced in the weeks following Cllr Rehman’s decision to eliminate the human element of communication, and in the same fell swoop, ensuring a political spin on every comment that goes to print.
“As far as I know there is a good communication between the communications office and the media. We always make sure that we respond to their queries and in case of internet disconnections, I do indicate to the media. There has never been a time where we ignore the media.”
In her reply, Ms Masondo failed to answer the questions that were directly and clearly laid out in the query. She was asked what had been done to solve the problems regarding the e-mail servers that the municipality uses, and submitted an evasive and non-committal reply, which smacked more of a job description than an actual statement.
Municipal staff have agreed that the new system is not working and that the decision is tantamount to interfering with the administration departments of the municipality.
With the highly sought after transparency ethos now in a dubious dormancy, the main concern is still whether or not the politicians will allow the administration wing to speak to the media.
