QUESTION: What was the most challenging part of your job?
Answer: Shortage of staff. If you compare BCM with our counterpart Nelson Mandela Bay Metro they have got 18 to 20 staff just for communications and here we only have three.
Q: Is BCM badly run?
A: That is not my place to determine. I cannot come to any conclusion personally to say the municipality is badly run because I would have to substantiate that and I don’t think I would do it justice.
Q: It can’t be easy defending the municipality everyday. Do you agree?
A: I fully agree, it is not easy. We are the most (media) covered municipality in the province and we have people that are dedicated to doing their job and we have an obligation to showcase that. And at the same time we have people that are not so dedicated to doing their job and at some point we find ourselves having to defend such people which I think is not fair.
Q: The Mandela funeral scandal dented BCM’s image. How did you feel being seen as the defender of an administration already seen as corrupt by the public?
A: That matter is still in the courts and I do not remember once defending the administration. What I communicated then was the information that was made available to me and if you recall there was a point when I was not talking at all about the Nelson Mandela funeral scandal.
Q: Why did you leave radio in the first place?
A: In 2007 a friend of mine said he was starting a church in East London and in December 2007 I just said I am coming to East London to help him to start the work. That was it.
Q: Now that you are leaving your job as a spokesman, have you realised that public relations is not for you?
A: No, I can’t say public relations is not for me because where I am going I will be doing public relations.
Q: Some may see your departure as throwing in the towel. What’s your response?
A: No, they are wrong. There is time for everything. There was time for me to join local government and time for me to exit. I can not associate my departure to a particular pressure but I think it is time for me to be of service at another level.
Q: Who is the better boss between mayor Alfred Mtsi and (former) mayor Zukiswa Ncitha?
A: I am not serving individuals. I am serving offices. The incumbents in those offices have different ways of doing things. In the case of when she joined BCM in 2011 there was an obligation from my side to introduce myself and also say we have this particular strategy and this is how we are hoping to assist the office in carrying the mandate of council.
We worked very well because we launched the first metro communicator’s forum on November 29, 2011. There was no forum in BCM before. Things changed around 2013/14 because chose to get her own spokesperson. Maybe she felt there was not enough coverage of that particular office and you link this to the shortage of staff that we have.
The former mayor saw fit to hire someone and unfortunately, even though I tried as communications manager to reach out to the new spokesperson of the mayor, things did not work out.
Q: Did internal politics cause you to quit?
A: No. That is a straight no.
Q: Are you leaving your department in good hands?
A: Yes, I am content and I am confident communications will not collapse because of my departure. The people that I am leaving behind know exactly what to do as there is a communications strategy in place and I don’t think they will deviate from the current strategy.
Q: Why do directorates take so long to answer media queries?
A: It is a frustration and on our side we tried to put in some measures by doing in-house monitoring and on a daily basis when we get the newspaper we look at the stories where it says BCM did not respond and we compile that and share it with all users.
We highlight the departments that are not forthcoming with responses and we indicate that it is a bad reflection on the institution.
Sometimes we get a query and we get a response two days later and we get an authentic response and you ask yourself why didn’t I get this response on time.
I can say we are really struggling to get information quickly from the departments and I am hoping that going forward they will see that it also reflects badly on us because someone reading the paper thinks communications is not doing anything.
Q: Rate yourself based on how you performed during your stint in the municipality?
A: It is a difficult one, a third party really should do the score.
Q: What advice do you have for the person who is going to replace you?
A: Stay in your lane and stick in your lane. Don’t be a politician if you are employed as an administrator, remain an official because if you have skew eyes you will compromise the institution. Politicians come and go, but the institution remains.
Spinning right to the end
Answer: Shortage of staff. If you compare BCM with our counterpart Nelson Mandela Bay Metro they have got 18 to 20 staff just for communications and here we only have three.
Q: Is BCM badly run?
A: That is not my place to determine. I cannot come to any conclusion personally to say the municipality is badly run because I would have to substantiate that and I don’t think I would do it justice.
Q: It can’t be easy defending the municipality everyday. Do you agree?
A: I fully agree, it is not easy. We are the most (media) covered municipality in the province and we have people that are dedicated to doing their job and we have an obligation to showcase that. And at the same time we have people that are not so dedicated to doing their job and at some point we find ourselves having to defend such people which I think is not fair.
Q: The Mandela funeral scandal dented BCM’s image. How did you feel being seen as the defender of an administration already seen as corrupt by the public?
A: That matter is still in the courts and I do not remember once defending the administration. What I communicated then was the information that was made available to me and if you recall there was a point when I was not talking at all about the Nelson Mandela funeral scandal.
Q: Why did you leave radio in the first place?
A: In 2007 a friend of mine said he was starting a church in East London and in December 2007 I just said I am coming to East London to help him to start the work. That was it.
Q: Now that you are leaving your job as a spokesman, have you realised that public relations is not for you?
A: No, I can’t say public relations is not for me because where I am going I will be doing public relations.
Q: Some may see your departure as throwing in the towel. What’s your response?
A: No, they are wrong. There is time for everything. There was time for me to join local government and time for me to exit. I can not associate my departure to a particular pressure but I think it is time for me to be of service at another level.
Q: Who is the better boss between mayor Alfred Mtsi and (former) mayor Zukiswa Ncitha?
A: I am not serving individuals. I am serving offices. The incumbents in those offices have different ways of doing things. In the case of when she joined BCM in 2011 there was an obligation from my side to introduce myself and also say we have this particular strategy and this is how we are hoping to assist the office in carrying the mandate of council.
We worked very well because we launched the first metro communicator’s forum on November 29, 2011. There was no forum in BCM before. Things changed around 2013/14 because chose to get her own spokesperson. Maybe she felt there was not enough coverage of that particular office and you link this to the shortage of staff that we have.
The former mayor saw fit to hire someone and unfortunately, even though I tried as communications manager to reach out to the new spokesperson of the mayor, things did not work out.
Q: Did internal politics cause you to quit?
A: No. That is a straight no.
Q: Are you leaving your department in good hands?
A: Yes, I am content and I am confident communications will not collapse because of my departure. The people that I am leaving behind know exactly what to do as there is a communications strategy in place and I don’t think they will deviate from the current strategy.
Q: Why do directorates take so long to answer media queries?
A: It is a frustration and on our side we tried to put in some measures by doing in-house monitoring and on a daily basis when we get the newspaper we look at the stories where it says BCM did not respond and we compile that and share it with all users.
We highlight the departments that are not forthcoming with responses and we indicate that it is a bad reflection on the institution.
Sometimes we get a query and we get a response two days later and we get an authentic response and you ask yourself why didn’t I get this response on time.
I can say we are really struggling to get information quickly from the departments and I am hoping that going forward they will see that it also reflects badly on us because someone reading the paper thinks communications is not doing anything.
Q: Rate yourself based on how you performed during your stint in the municipality?
A: It is a difficult one, a third party really should do the score.
Q: What advice do you have for the person who is going to replace you?
A: Stay in your lane and stick in your lane. Don’t be a politician if you are employed as an administrator, remain an official because if you have skew eyes you will compromise the institution. Politicians come and go, but the institution remains.
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