Magna Carta is a reputation management agency, established in 1994. We are turning 20 this year and have grown in leaps and bounds since inception. We pride ourselves in professionalism and being one of the best in the communications sphere. With all that in mind, it came as an uncomfortable surprise when Brendan Seery awarded us the PR Onion in his Orchids and Onions column in the Saturday Star (February 15, 2014). The Onion, which is an award to a PR agency for getting something wrong, was for a basic PR101 procedure. (See PDF: SaturdayStarOnion)

As a reputation management agency – our own reputation is of utmost importance. No client would trust us with their brand(s) if we didn’t have the reputation we have – a reputation that took years to build and polish. But as the saying goes; every dog has its day – and it was our day. The Onion provided us with the opportunity to eat our own dog food. It was our turn to show how we handle ourselves when our reputation is being questioned – put to practice the advice we give to our clients.

Ignoring the Onion was an option with the hope that none of our clients saw it – but as Magna Carta CEO Vincent Magwenya states “perception can easily turn into reality”. Another option was to go on the defensive and blame it all on the intern in question. But that would be a contradiction to how we consult with our clients on matters similar to this one.

Take Responsibility.

For a brand to retain any credibility during a crisis, taking responsibility is the first step. “The Onion from Seery was a clear indication that something had gone wrong with our management protocols of interns and our interface with the media – we had to accept this fact and take action” explains Magwenya.

Magwenya, who makes it clear that “communication is about leadership”, did exactly that and made contact with the Journalist. Part of managing a reputation includes building and continually maintaining relationships. Ignoring the matter would have meant Seery would forever have had ill-feelings towards any mention of Magna Carta. The relationship between reputation consultants and journalists is the most important factor of our field – it affects our clients at the end of the day. Clients will not feel comfortable working with an agency that doesn’t have great relations with media representatives. “Media relations management is our bread and butter.”

In his message to Seery, Magwenya unpacked Magna Carta’s plan of action as to how we’ll ensure that such a slip up will never happen again. “It is never enough to just take responsibility and apologise. It is also important to show that measures have been formulated to remedy the issue at hand”, said Magwenya. This was simply not a “find the intern- fire the intern” issue. Being reactionary would mean that we solved the problem at surface level but didn’t get to the root cause of the problem.

Quick real-time action from Magna Carta’s CEO put the company back into the good books of Seery. After the response he awarded us an Orchid for our peace effort and most importantly we mended our relationship with him. (See PDF: SaturdayStarOrchid)

Solutions lie outside of the fiscal tool and key is in implementation

This year’s budget, the last of the current sitting administration and possibly the last budget of finance minister Pravin Gordhan, was a mix of conservatism as well as practicality given that we are in an election year.

While it did bring about an income tax relief of R9.3 billion to households, increased tax cuts and support to SME’s, incentives and funding for Special Economic Zones (SEZ), and continued funds for infrastructure development as well as to social services, it was somewhat conservative in its approach to the challenges South Africa faces in reducing the current 24% unemployment rate.

While the National Development Plan (NDP) is aimed at creating an equal society where all can partake of the economy the latest budget fell somewhat short in terms of reaching these objectives.

With an estimated economic growth rate of 2.7% predicted for 2014 we are still far off the 5% growth per annum needed as outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP) to make an impact on structural unemployment.

While many quarters of society, most notably labour, have not given their full support to the NDP, its implementation remains critical in order to get SA on the right economic path. While this budget did not allocate specific amounts to the NDP, key sectors outlined in the plan have been allocated their share of resources.

Infrastructure spending over the past five years has amounted to R1 trillion with R847 billion allocated over the next three years for numerous projects including rehabilitation of dams, refurbishing of Metrorail coaches as well as support for IPAP &SEZ.

Education remains the key pillar for NDP to be successfully implemented. As such it receives an allocation of R256 billion. Another key sector for the successful implementation of NDP is that of healthcare.

With the NHI pilot programmes already underway and R1.2 billion allocated to piloting general practitioners code, the sector still faces numerous challenges which no amount of budget allocations can resolve unless structural reforms are initiated.

Employment remains but the biggest obstacle currently facing the country. While strides have been made in creating employment for all, the negative theme far outweighs any good news on the topic. Allocations to employment include the expansion of the Public Works programme as well as the introduction of the youth wage subsidy, both of which needs some time in order to judge it a success or not.