Marianne Merten
Newly appointed presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj says the job is “a big challenge”, but he aims to build a better understanding in both the president and the media of what each is all about.
Maharaj, the third spokesman for Jacob Zuma since he became president in May 2009, has his work cut out as he seeks to ease tension between the Zuma administration, especially the Presidency, and the media.
Zuma needs a less hostile media as his leadership comes under close scrutiny in the run-up to the ruling party’s elective conference in December next year.
Zuma came under heavy criticism from the ANC Youth League and Cosatu for his administration’s economic and foreign policies, especially South Africa’s support for the UN resolution on Libya.
Maharaj, government sources say, will be better at articulating foreign policy and defend Zuma better than Zizi Kodwa, whose ANC Youth League links have raised questions in the Zuma camp about his loyalties.
While Zuma wanted to make sure that communication took place, Maharaj told Sunday Independent on Friday, his focus would be on the “larger issues” and “in-depth interaction” on those.
The aim is for the media to “understand him (Zuma) better and for him to understand that each (media) has their own requirements”, Maharaj said, adding that a meeting with editors would be on the cards.
Maharaj will have to juggle his new presidential communication responsibilities with the more diplomatic role of representing the president on the G20 infrastructure working group and participation in the Zimbabwe facilitation team.
“When the president asks you, what choice do you have?” he said.
“We’ll give it our best shot.”
Maharaj intends to meet with editors, political editors and senior correspondents to ease tensions between the Zuma administration and the media.
“There’s conflict and drama in society – it’s healthy, there’s a need for it – but there’s no crisis, as long as we work within the framework of the constitution,” Maharaj said.
Former acting spokesman Kodwa, who reverts to his post of presidential special adviser on communications, said Maharaj had all the right credentials. “Mac is a complete communicator, all the credentials, Mac has,” Kodwa said. The ANC echoed similar sentiments.
But commentators expressed surprise over the choice of Maharaj. Steven Friedman, director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, said he was “puzzled” by the appointment, as Maharaj was not known as a communicator.
“The point about Maharaj is that he’s about as close to Zuma as you can get. Zuma must be feeling a little beleaguered lately and may feel he needs to have a close confidant,” he said. “(Maharaj) has no experience in it (communications)… It is not something he is particularly known for.”
However, Friedman said, the president’s communication challenges loomed large, as many perceived the office as directionless.
Friedman added it was important for the president to show citizens that decisive action was being taken and that citizens were being heard.
Founder of Brand Leadership, Thebe Ikalafeng, said balance between the government and the party was key. While the president represented the ANC, he also was head of the government.
“When you are heading a country, clearly you are leading a country for everybody, whether they are DA or ANC.”
Maharaj had the credentials and political clout and was very accessible. “He understands that the president needs to reach out to all stakeholders with the same message,” said Ikalafeng.
Challenges of government communication, according to some insiders, include access to information and to the principal. Kodwa said the challenges were related to the fact that communication happened daily, and issues could not be foreseen.
One PR thumbs-down was Zuma’s arrival three hours late to deliver a Youth Day address at Orlando Stadium, which was virtually deserted by the time he got there. Zuma had waited to address the ANC Youth League earlier in the day and was shown dancing on the conference stage in that evening’s television news broadcasts.
Neither access to the president nor political clout would be of worry to Maharaj.
However, getting the message out quickly and effectively, given all other responsibilities, would require close and efficient relationships with those au fait with the workings of the Presidency.
Already Maharaj has indicated a preference not to be contacted directly, but to direct media queries to the established channels in the Presidency, which would relay his comments or responses in his name. It is understood that that system was established under Kodwa.
In the interview with The Sunday Independent – from an airport in Europe on a cellphone – Maharaj self-deprecatingly described himself as “old”, with a limp and somewhat deaf.
Maharaj has impeccable Struggle credentials and is widely recognised as an ace tactician – even as he is also known to speak his mind, quite bluntly at times.
Born in April 1935 in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, he spent 12 years on Robben Island and in 1976 smuggled out the first transcription of Nelson Mandela’s memoirs. He went on to Operation Vula which smuggled exiles, including Zuma, back to South Africa and played a key role in the negotiated transition to democracy. Following the first democratic elections in 1994, he served as transport minister until 1999.
In 2003 Maharaj hit controversy when he lashed out against then prosecutions boss Bulelani Ngcuka, accusing him of being an apartheid spy at a time when fraud and corruption charges were announced against Schabir Shaik, then Zuma’s financial adviser.
Although he backed the bid to have Zuma elected as ANC president at the 2007 Polokwane conference, leading to his entry into the country’s presidential office, it was not an unqualified backing which stopped him from speaking out where he thought he saw wrong. That included speaking out against corruption at the sidelines of the ANC national general council in Durban in September 2010.
Maharaj comes into the presidency after a period of reorganisation and remissioning.
Under former president Thabo Mbeki, the president and his deputy’s communication units were kept separate. Zuma was Mbeki’s deputy.
Then activist-turned-businessman Murphy Morobe was brought in between 2004 and 2006, reportedly to establish a single presidency communications unit, which led to various resignations and redeployments. However, by 2006, Mukoni Ratshitanga was effectively in the post of Mbeki’s presidential spokesman.
Shortly after Zuma came into office in 2009, moves were afoot to again formally separate the communications structures of the president and his deputy.
Once known as the editor who released details of a confidential briefing by Ngcuka, Vusi Mona’s job as head of presidential communications dropped from the organogram and he was redeployed to Government Communications and Information Systems.
Other longstanding presidency communicators either left office or went into other offices.
Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya lasted a year; it is understood he did not not enjoy access to the president, nor was he seen to have sufficient political standing.
Kodwa took over from him about a year ago.