Honesty is the best spin . . .

When did it become standard operating procedure to spin? I suspect that this came about with the advent of the "communications" professionals. The advice is these professionals give is that how one says something is important, sometimes more important than what one is saying. It seems to me that the "spokepersons" of the various government departments, companies and other organisations are measured on their inability/refusal to answer questions. It seems to me that the bonus is inversely propotional to the number of questions you do answer.

Take the matter of shit in the ocean, somewhere along the Durban's coast. The question was simply whether or not there was shit in the water. I still do not know the answer to this seemingly simple question but I am somewhat of an expert on how a beach is designated blue and how it may lose its blue status, something I was quite frankly not interested in. The reporter did not cover himself in glory either. There is the obsession to show that things don't work because they don't work. No effort to tell the whole story and let us get to grips with what is really happening - just scare-mongering about shit in the ocean. The authorities on the other hand were in denial - he just wanted his blue flags back despite the shit. Every sane South African knew about the floods that devastated some parts of the Durban coast. They also know about the squalor that some of our people live in along that very coast. Now put the two together and the fact that all rivers eventually end up in the sea and you will agree that the city manager should have answered yes to the question and then gave himself the opportunity to explain the shit. The journalist fuelled the denial, it made for a great story - "government in denial again". What really got to me was something about it being recognised that this is Africa and consequently the measure of what is a blue flag beach must be adjusted (down presumably). All I want is to go to the beach, swim a little with no fear of icoli. I am sure the tourists would appreciate that too, with or without the blue flags.

Tell the people about the shortage of city engineers if that is the truth, the private sector may offer some of their engineers to help because no-one I know wants shit in the water they swim in, fish in or that they drink. This issue came up during the run up to the famous Duzi canoe marathon; even back then all I saw in the papers did not make the issue any clearer; spin took over. Maintenance scheduling is clearly a problem. It could be as a result of budget constraints, skills shortage or simply disinterest by those that have to get the work done. The local authority will look good if they are good people. Good people do not disrespect the citizens by lying to them and putting spin on what is clearly shit. Good leadership comes clean with the people and where necessary ask for help.

This penchant for spin has unfortunately become part of the South African socio, economic and political landscape. Now for a young nation such as ours mistakes are inevitable. These mistakes, thanks to spin, remain unfixed for a long time with the result that they become unfixable. Our people do not expect the leadership to be perfect but they definitely expect them to be honest.

Zimbabweans went to the polls some weeks ago. As at the time of writing this post, they still did not have the results of the presidential elections. The opposition tried to get the courts to force the electoral commission to publish the results, the court refused apparently on two occassions. I have not had an opportunity to read the judgement of the court on the issue and can therefore not comment. I assume that the court applied the law as it exists in Zimbabwe. My knowledge of the courts in Zimbabwe is one of courage where various judgements have gone against the government. On this basis and this basis alone I assume that the inaction of the electoral commission and their failure to publish the results is not unlawful. I do know however that the continuing delay is not good for the people of Zimbabwe. The people know that the composition of parliament has changed dramatically from the last elections. There is also a chance that the incumbent president may have lost the elections. Add that to the known difficulties that the people of Zimbabwe have endured, it is reasonable to conclude that the uncertainty in that country has reached crisis proportions. To intimate that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe sounds to close to saying that all is well in Zimbabwe; and that is insulting and dishonest.

Our president should simply tell the world that he has tried to convince president Mugabe to relinquish power, for the sake of the people of Zimbabwe and that president Mugabe refuses. If our president told the world that he is fresh out of ideas on this issue he will gain respectability and not the ridicule he has had to endure thanks to him being "right" about there being no crisis in Zimbabwe. It is not surprising that our president is behaving like this, his is a history of diplomacy and behind the scenes negotiating - there is no huge demand for honesty there, it's all about presentation of facts and submissions.

Personal experience of honesty has been rewarding in my life. On no less than 3 occassions I or Stha indadvertently hit a stationary car in one or other shopping mall parking lot. On each occassion we left an appology for damaging their car and our contact details for the people to get in touch with us to discuss how the damages can be fixed. On each of these occassions the people we had wronged got in touch with us to thank us for the honesty and went ahead to have their cars fixed without demand of payment on us. People appreciate honesty.