Here’s a cautionary tale.  Maybe there is something to be learned from this, maybe not.  It’s about a town called Klerksdorp. 

Everybody knows about Klerksdorp, but most people would have to look it up on a map as it does not immediately spring to mind as a tourism magnet.  It’s just left of Potchefstroom, upwind from Orkney.  It’s the little city that could – or couldn’t, as the case may be. At Indaba this year I was impressed by the friendliness and enthusiasm of two chaps manning a stand called The City of Matlosana.  They clearly loved their city, and I decided then and there to investigate further.  So yesterday I went on the website, and was further impressed.  The City of Matlosana turns out to be Klerksdorp, and the municipality has embarked on a vigorous campaign to develop the city for upmarket visitors.    First of all, the website is untypical of the usual government website.  It is friendly, useful, oriented towards the user and not just a showcase for mugshots of the various dignitaries and all their speeches.  It has historical, accommodation and investment information.  I went onto the Contacts Page and was astounded to see a list of the direct telephone numbers of the city mandarins.  I phoned the Municipal Manager, and the phone was answered within two rings.  By now I felt as if I was entering a dream state, where everything works and government actually governs.  The Municipal Manager was busy and the PA was coy about when he would be available.  So I phoned the Mayor’s office, and her extremely efficient PA referred me to the town’s marketing person, Sandy Botha, and the Mayor’s spokesperson, Vivian (no surname supplied). I phoned Sandy first.  Sandy is now the director of Investor Relations and Marketing in the municipality.  Five years ago the municipality decided to embark on a development plan called Agenda 16, a 16-year development plan to attract tourists and property owners.  Klerksdorp wants to capitalise on its history, its rock engravings (which are so significant that Wits University is busy setting up a special anthropology unit on the site), good climate, and the nearby Vaal River for leisure development and national and international water sports.  “We piggy-backed quite shamelessly on the World Cup,” says Sandy.  “Even though we weren’t a host city, we did get a lot of international attention.  We are busy with a sporting complex that will be a catalyst for sports development, the airport is being upgraded and we have noticed that there is a significant increase in interest from overseas.” Being only a one-and-a-half hour drive from OR Tambo International Airport, the municipality is in talks with the Peermont Group, which has already built a casino in the town and is busy planning a resort on the river.  So it’s a good destination for a day trip from the metropolis, or perhaps a weekend cottage on the river. I was feeling so warm and fuzzy about Klerksdorp at this point that I decided – rashly as it turned out – to get comment from the spokesperson of this remarkable mayor who was far-sighted and supportive.  So I phoned Vivian. I explained who I was and what I wanted and she told me to put my questions in an e-mail.  This is where it started to go wrong.  Firstly, journalists requesting comment don’t really like putting questions in e-mails (for many reasons).  Secondly, there were no real questions as such. All I wanted was some positive and cheerful comment from the mayor or her spokesperson. But I agreed to send the mail and then asked unwarily:  “Do you think I would be able to get an answer today?”  I was expecting either a ‘Yes of course,” or “No, sorry, I’m too busy but I will get on to it as soon as possible.” What I wasn’t expecting was to be shouted at.  Vivian told me, in rising tones of anger, that I was putting pressure on her and that it was unfair of me to phone her when I was on deadline and expect her to drop everything in order to cater to my whims.  She was a busy person, she added, sitting in a boardroom with the SABC and I shouldn’t think I was important enough to demand her immediate attention.
Taken aback I tried to explain, but she would not let me get a word in edgeways.  Eventually I had to shout her down, tell her that I was sorry I had impinged on her valuable time when she was so busy and important, and that we should rather abandon the comment from the mayor’s office. This was not good enough for the mayor’s spokeswoman, who had to put in a good few minutes of invective before I was allowed to go. After that interview I was tempted to ignore Klerksdorp for the rest of eternity but then I thought: there is a lesson here.  The municipality spends millions on development, attracting investment, employing a full-time marketer, trying to put forward a good image of their town.  But then everything is ruined by some minor bureaucrat with an inflated idea of their own importance. The lesson here is that everyone who deals with the public is part of your marketing team – from the person who runs the switchboard to your head honcho.  Any weak link along the way and you are wasting your time and money.  So – please…. Visit Klerksdorp for its history, river activities and spanking new resort.  It seems like an interesting new product to try out.  But please, just don’t tell Vivian that I sent you!