/ 4 March 2011

The ANC’s Age of Apology is upon us

If former president Thabo Mbeki’s rule was the Age of Denial, President Jacob Zuma’s term of office is likely to be known as the Age of Apology.

We were ushered into the new era by Zuma himself long before he became president when he said sorry to the nation in 2006 for having unprotected sex with the daughter of his friend who accused him of rape.

Fast-forward to 2010, when Zuma had to apologise for the same indiscretion, this time involving the daughter of a different friend. The difference was that he was South Africa’s first citizen and his transgressions reverberated far more loudly.

The rest of the ANC has followed The Leader’s example, doing and saying as they please and then thinking that everything can be fixed with a public grovel.

Julius Malema, the ANC Youth League leader, apologised for insulting Zuma; ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu for drunk driving; former Gauteng health minister Brian Hlongwa for saying he was so rich he didn’t need a government job; and now the newly appointed government spin-doctor Jimmy Manyi for saying coloured people are “over-concentrated” in the ­Western Cape.

Communications textbooks tell us that an apology is a powerful tool — if it is used sparingly. It is not an all-purpose vacuum cleaner to be used to clean up any mess you make, a communications specialist said this week.

To apologise usually takes guts and can arouse public sympathy. But with any hint of insincerity — and this is suggested by a steady flow of glib and apparently painless mea culpas — the effect starts to wear thin.

Suppressing dissent
In Mbeki’s time there was no such thing as an apology. The name of the game was to be tough and try by all means to suppress dissent — but finally removed from the debate by your party, as happened over the former president’s dissidence over Aids. So Zuma’s readiness to apologise was, at first, a welcome addition to public discourse. A leader who could own up to his mistakes? What a breath of fresh air.

But then the mistakes were repeated, suggesting lip service. Also, the climbdowns were conveyed by professional apologists. Seasoned public relations specialists will tell you an apology needs to be made by the offender and it needs to be unreserved. It must state clearly and unequivocally: I’m sorry, I messed up and won’t do it again.

Manyi broke these basic rules. He apologised through his deputy, Vusi Mona, who added at the end of his written statement that the revelations about his boss might be “part of a vendetta”.

Besides we now know the Western Cape ANC put pressure on Luthuli House to get Manyi to apologise — obviously not a deeply felt atonement. And it seems that Zuma and his fellow penitents expect to be forgiven without forgiving others. Britain’s Guardian newspaper publicly apologised for defaming him, but the libel case, which related to the rape allegation, was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

It is doubtful whether anyone would hark back to the days of stubborn leaders with immutable viewpoints, but we have settled into the Age of the Apology too comfortably. For the Zuma government, sorry does not seem to be the hardest word.