I was sipping a cup of tea last Sunday when, like many South Africans, with my eyes glued to the small screen when KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, flanked by members of the Police Tactical Unit, armed to the teeth, dropped the bombs.
Clad in combat gear, though not for the first time, Mkhwanazi made explosive allegations, and his words matched his regalia. Attended by senior members of the SAPS, at face value, one would have mistaken the press conference for an army announcing a coup d’état, as is often the case in other African countries when the military takes over.
At first, I thought I was watching Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned television channel known to cover stories from the belly of the beast.
Mkhwanazi ventured where angels fear to tread, accusing politicians, notably police minister Senzo Mchunu, deputy police commissioner and former head of the Hawks in Gauteng Gen Shadrack Sibiya, prosecutors and traffic officers of corruption.
Whether his approach was correct or not is neither here nor there; however, at the end of the day, Mkhwanazi made a bold statement.
The gloves are off, and Mkhwanazi has fired the first salvo. Analysing his posture, a calm and collected demeanour, his dress code, the day he chose to make the revelations, and the set-up of the media briefing, I was reminded of a course I taught at Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Media Leadership Institute. In communication, 55% of communication is body language, 33% is effective use of one’s voice, and 7% of communication is what is being said.
Mkhwanazi, an eloquent speaker that he is, sent an unambiguous message.
Equally important, he managed to set the news agenda for the week.
Social media was abuzz. Radio and television dedicated lots of airtime to the story, as did online news outlets and newspapers splashed the story on front pages the next day.
Mkhwanazi packaged his message to be easily digested and made for good sound bites.
He was clear, unflinching, resolute and convincing. He brought all the attributes of a credible and convincing communicator to the briefing and engaged with journalists in a coordinated and coherent manner, going to the point of imploring journalists to ask one question at a time and not fire a litany of confusing and convoluted questions. He brought structure and coherence.
He indeed ruffled feathers and also rattled the cage. His explosive revelations also reached Brazil, where President Cyril Ramaphosa was participating in a Brics summit abroad.
Despite a handful of critics, who lampooned and lambasted him for the strategy he employed or dressing in a combat uniform, the media briefing was surely well planned, orchestrated, rehearsed and executed. He achieved the intended purpose.
Many lessons for politicians and spokespersons home and abroad on how to handle the media, not the chaos White House correspondents and press corps are subjected to in the Oval Office, and some local gimmicks masquerading as media briefings that turn out to be damp squibs, where gossip and insults are the order of the day, worse with some journalists giggling while being threatened.
The jury is out as to whether Mkhwanazi’s was a dangerous game of Russian roulette or not, and if there will be collateral damage. The media briefing was well-scripted, and the message he conveyed was simple, clear, crisp, and succinct: “The gloves are off.”
- Sepotokele is a journalist, communication strategist, media trainer and journalism lecturer. He’s the author of “Being a Spokesperson”, a political communication book about the relationship between journalists and spokespersons
