Wry Eye: PR blunders – from ANC’s land howler to warped B4SA campaign

A wry eye on time 

How early is early? Is this a time warp? That’s the question colleague BizNews editor Jackie Cameron is asking herself after being asked to hurry up, only to wait, about the launch of a campaign by Business For SA (B4SA) to encourage early payment to SMMEs.

The request for BizNews’ support, like for other media presumably, was professional and to the point – please help spread the word about the #PayIn30Days campaign.

Read more: Wry Eye: Braai menu with intriguing twist, Zondo common sense, Michaelhouse paradox

Ever the eager beaver, Ms Cameron requested an interview with BLSA CEO Busi Mavuso – one of two designated voices along with Discovery CEO Adrian Gore  – this week. Thanks, replied the B4SA spin doctor promptly, but no thanks, the campaign is only being launched on November 17. Stand by, we will contact you. 

So, there you have it; there’s an on-time payment campaign being launched, but no advance notice please.

Conservative Party solution

The Tories in Britain have proposed an unorthodox solution to deal with homeless people, as this sign in a London commuter bus suggests.

ANC PR debacle

The Wry Eye observed that so intent was the ANC on scoring kudos about releasing 700 000 hectares of “vacant and under-utilised” land for agricultural development, that it waded into a proper PR disaster. Topping the government’s roll call of foot-in-the-mouth jabs must be the list of properties earmarked for redistribution that also happens to includes the farm of one David Rakgase. In 2019, Limpopo farmer Rakgase won a lengthy court battle and in a court order instructing the state to sell him the land he had been farming for decades.

Read more: Oz digger’s dirty laundry, rough sex and more – Wry Eye

Denial to the death 

As deaths per day from the coronavirus rise sharply in America, as health experts feared, President Donald Trump is beating the campaign drum ahead of the presidential vote. “We’re rounding the turn, we’re doing great,” said Trump as the average deaths per day across the US rose 10% over the past two weeks, from 721 to nearly 794. Parallel universe indeed.

• This article first appeared in the BizNews Digest. Download this handy, interactive PDF summary of the week’s top stories here.