How is the South Africas image around the world after the Lonmin Maasacre?

Now the whole world knows that South African Police Service killed approximately 40 miners during Lonmin illegal strike, so what does that precisely mean for S.A’s image.

From my observation the image of SA is in a deep crisis full of mud that needs to be ripped away. The investors are now becoming afraid to continue investing money to the mining industry of South Africa which has precious resources because of the image portrayed by the media, Lonmin  Massacre made international media project SA as a country which has turned violent  that SA has now became violent of which is not  true. Thus the  question that arises how does South African government ensures that South Africa restores back its reputable image of being the democratic peaceful country in Africa?



South Africa's flag with drops of blood falling down



 Lonmin and SA governments co-operation

 The South African government together with the Lonmin I reckon that they must do a campaign that will entail crisis advertising which will aid Lonmin to re-establish goodwill and re-brands itself. The campaign should also restores hope to the international investors. At the end the campaign should ensure the foreign investors that SA is still the safest country with precious mineral resources to invest in.

On the other hand the Lonmin must do a corporate advertising focuses on the reputation of the company. Furthermore they should  also inform their clients on  how are they going to manage the  similar situation next time if it occurs. Like it or not the government cannot just sit down while the image of the country.Lonmine should also analyse the outcome and Media coverage both positive / negative. Lastly the also need to revise their crisis communication plan to reflect what they have learned. 

In addition the mine should now make sure that it enhances its Employee communication/internal communication. The importance of employee communication is :

· Employee want information about the company they crave communication from their management they want to know what plans the company has for the workers.

        ·   Employee Communication is the key to addressing new business challenges because employees are more confident that they can help move the business forward.

    ·   Employee communication can be vital to maintaining customer experience and  employees convey the brand image of the company thus if employees are not pleased with their working conditions the image of the company loses its value.

RELEASE YOUR VOICE.

L BUTHELEZI.

Is it communication failure that led to the Lonmin Massacre



South African police opened fire on striking miners armed with machetes and sticks at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine on Thursday. ( Reuters news headline)

It's unfortunately disturbing to read the above Reuters News headline about our lovely South Africa that made international headline news on Reuters, BBC and Sky news, because the image that the world-  investors portray at the end about South Africa is not good after all.When I saw a footage of Police shooting Lonmin workers yesterday on  19h00 E-News,I was dismayed and remained with lot of questions of what exactly went wrong where did the communication failure occurred,did the communication practitioners of the responsible parties manage to communicate with their members accordingly or they just failed to ease the crisis that occurred in Lonmin, unfortunately we cannot undo what has happened.

SAPS member shooting live ammunisation to the mine workers.
(http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-08-17-lonmins-killing-fields-the-inevitable-tragic-next-move)

As Pubic Relations Practitioners it's part of our duty to ensure that workers are satisfied and comfortable with the working conditions  and benefit they get from our organisations because at the end they are the ones that make am organisation succeed and meet the targets, goals an vision/mission because with no doubt it's highly difficult to succeed alone without extra hands and make the organisation operate effectively.According to my views the Communication department and the Management of Lonmin failed to honour the workers demands of getting decent better salaries thus it led to the loose of lives.How can mine workers of the world's largest platinum producer still earn less that R5000.00 ? another question that arises is that is the  management only thinking of themselves careless towards meeting the workers ?, demands if so then what is the communication department of Lonmin doing or has done to make sure that workers have high spirit of working hard and make the Lonmin succeed.I still maintain my opinion that this crisis (Lonmin Massacre) could have been long time prevented if Lonmin Management acted early before unions and its worked embarked on a violent strike that caused +/- 35 lives of the mine workers.

                      Lonmin Massacre Video  www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImqAVon92VM

One of the Lonmin values is To enhance the quality of life for our employees and their families and promote self esteem, then if so the question is if they really want to enhance their employees life and their families how can mine workers improve their lives while still earning less than R5000.00 ? This should be a lesson to other organisations that they must listen the demands and the need of the people who are working hard, who are getting the job done and who are making an organisation succeed, thus as Public Relation Practitioners this are the essential things that we ought to do to ensure that an organisation operate well :

•  we need to evaluate workers demands and needs.
• We must  maintain communication with employees pertaining workers issues
• We need to  find out what workers would like to see happening within the organisation
• the most essential thing is that we should not promise what the company would not offer.
•  We must have a consistent relationship with the workers Unions and start wages negotiations at the earlier stage to prevent unnecessary striking that may lead to loose of lives.
• Lastly the management should not forget that workers are the ones that get the job done,workers are the ones that satisfy clients therefore they also need to be satisfied and rewarded.

RELEASE YOUR VOICE.

L Buthelezi

Can somebody please rescue the sinking Department of Basic Education

                      More voices want the Minister of Education to be fired.

 There has been lot of bad publicity surrounding the Department of Basic Education under the administration of Minister Angie Motshekga. Several organisations including the ANC Youth league have come forward expressing their anger that Angie Motshekga should be released from her duties.
Hence Education is part our countries top 5 priorities that means government should be very serious about it.According to me President Jacob Zuma is letting us (the nation) down by not releasing the Minister of Education from her duties when it's clear that she is not unfit to handle her post because it's believed that she is canvassing for Zuma's Second Term in Mangaung, this is where the president  needs to be a loyal leader by isolating  personal issues from the duties. On the other hand the Spokesperson of the Department of  Basic Education Mr Panyaza Lesufi is busy spin doctoring the Minister when the image Department of Basic Education continues to sink at the end Limpopo learners will fail.

I say that as a nation we need a new broom (Minister) to sweep away and clean Angie Motshekga's mistakes because we can't rely on the same person to head the Department of Basic Education even next year .How can the  learners be motivated to study hard when the same government that is encouraging people to study fails to provide sufficient learning resources? How can the educators accomplished their work when they do not have enough resources to better the Grade 12's annual results?

Surely indeed we truly need a new broom to with fresh innovative ideas that will erase the current bad image and publicity of hanging around the sinking Department of Basic Education.

(Truck delivering boxes of books: http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/995122-120708st#.UCO2vdXT33E )

During the702 Radio Talk interview on Redi Thlabi show  President Jacob Zuma blamed Verwoerd regarding the current education system of South Africa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DKx2EGBjPY . Yes apartheid did harm South Africa but we can't keep on blaming it,the government needs top stop wasting money on luxury cars and unnecessary expenditure and focus on building the country. Bad public is not good at all for any organisation that serves the nation.


RELEASE YOUR VOICE.

L Buthelezi