‘The spokesperson for the municipality was not available for comment.’ How many times have you recently read this at the end of a story about Makana municipality?
‘The spokesperson for the municipality was not available for comment.’ How many times have you recently read this at the end of a story about Makana municipality?
The job description of a spokesperson includes: communicate and cooperate with the media, and give them the necessary information. In most countries a spokesperson is available 24/7.
Not in Makana. Here we are closer to 0/7. Here we struggle to get any information or comment from those who are paid to do so.
This week I wanted to write a feelgood story about the work the municipality does – except there was no one to discuss it with. I visited the offices, sent an email, called the cell phones.
No luck, no response. So it became a story with that dreaded last line about 'unavailability'. A moratorium on communications with the media seems to be in effect at City Hall. It’s not just the main spokesman Mncedisi Boma, but also the other good folk working at the communications division decline to deal with the media.
Imagine that: a communications division that won’t communicate!
Sure, relations between Grocott’s and the municipality have been slightly tumultuous for years. In 2007 the municipality pulled its advertising from the paper in retaliation for what it saw as unwarranted 'bad press'.
The matter was eventually amicably resolved on the steps of the High Court.
More recently, there was dissatisfaction with the way the paper reported on a legal dispute that municipal manager Dr. Pravine Naidoo was embroiled in.
So why not consult the "newly designed and updated" website? If only. Although the revamped site claims to promote "effective and efficient communication" with the public, it is still completely out of date – and out of touch.
For instance, information about the Makana Dam capacity has not been updated since September 2011.
There are no press releases, no records of awarded tenders, the news section has needed a facelift since June 2012; and the site’s most active area, the notices section, contains many announcements advertised far too late for effective notice.
And haven’t they just launched their own paper? Yes, but the Makana News is basically a huge newsletter with outdated news.
Which of course can’t be defined as news. The main consequence of this less than amiable relationship is that the community suffers.
They don’t get the news they are entitled to. And an inefficient system of communication creates apathy, and makes people disinterested on their own affairs and in their own community.
But it’s all fixable: some communication officials genuinely try to serve their communities.
And there are times when Boma is amazingly cooperative. It would be a great start if those 'lucky days' would become less of an exception. It’s time for the media and the municipality to start talking and to keep talking.
We don’t always have to agree, but the citizens we both serve can only benefit from a more open and honest relationship.
