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The Maliba of racism

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MALIBA Lodge, that overhyped compound of chalets, is accused of racial discrimination.

A guest complained that whites were separated from blacks in the restaurant.

Their group of blacks, she said, were hidden in a corner near the kitchen.

Muckraker is not in the business of sprinkling salt on festering wounds and will never attest to what she didn’t see or experience.

What has been proven beyond reasonable doubt is that Maliba Lodge’s management is hopelessly incompetent at public relations and media crisis management.

That much is clear from the audio of Stephen Phakisi, the managing director, responding to the racism allegations.

The audio is only useful in teaching managers and business owners to keep away from assignments beyond their qualifications and experience.

Public relations is something Phakisi should never attempt because he sucks at it.

In the audio Phakisi peppers his whining with arrogant statements that reveal his contempt for those who have dared to add their voices to the debate.

He insinuates, without much prodding, that most of those talking about the incident have never been “paying customers”.

He misses the point by miles. You don’t need to have spent a cent at Maliba Lodge to have an opinion about the incident. Nor do you have to understand the issue or know where the lodge is. You can say what you want even if you believe Maliba is in Mafeteng and offers day rest services for M100.

Phakisi also moans about the unfairness of the allegations as if that matters.

What matters is what people think about the allegations of racism.

More importantly, it matters more how the complainant interpreted their treatment.

Maybe they felt they were being hidden in the corner because of the colour of their to avoid tainting the lodge’s reputation as an exclusive white corner of Lesotho.

They could have thought they were being punished for just rocking up at the lodge as if they were buying makoenya and litapole at Mamas’ Café.

They probably thought they were put near the kitchen for the management to give their white guests the impression that they feed their employees well.

Phakisi doesn’t acknowledge these and other possible feelings and perceptions yet they are the possible causes of the fiasco he is trying to manage.

Muckraker thought Phakisi’s embarrassing performance would have been because he was ambushed with questions. But no. The lodge’s statement is equally scruffy and dismissive of the complainant and general complaints.

It breaks the first rule of dealing with a crisis: humbly acknowledge the feelings of the complainant, customer or victim – whether real or perceived – before anything else.

From the opening line, the management says it’s deeply pained by the accusations of racism. It says it feels “insulted” and “disappointed”.

The guest’s pain and dissatisfaction are not even acknowledged.

Nor is the “misunderstanding” that caused the mess explained and contextualised.

The only evidence that Maliba Lodge is not racist is that they “love the beautiful country of Lesotho and Basotho people”.

The statement sounds like it was written by a white person. If the author is black Muckraker will bet her last kobo that a white person was looking over their shoulder and dictating the words.

You know a statement is written or influenced by a white person when it says “Basotho people”. How many legs does that animal have?

Basotho are the people and the people are Basotho. No need to qualify, unless you are just uninterested or ignorant of Sesotho.

In case you are one of those “Basotho people” who keep moaning about racism, Maliba arrogantly reminds you to calm down and be grateful because they “strive to help empower local Basotho’s (sic) through employment and our community trust”.

Maliba Lodge doesn’t have any problem mentioning its jobs and donations in a statement dealing with allegations of racism.

As for the guest and others who might be primitive enough to ambush the restaurant with a food order, Maliba’s management has an answer: Don’t just rock up or we will roast you in the kitchen heat.

We are told that the complaining guest now understands that they “jumped to the wrong conclusion”. The lodge is saying it looked like racism but it was just procedure.

More like a confused Mosotho who likes to whine about procedures they don’t understand. An oversensitive blabbermouth, if you like.

This is the same “procedure” another guest endured five years ago when a white chef allegedly told her to f*** off for complaining about their shoddy food.

She followed the booking procedure but was still told to go hang.

The statement stinks of a superiority complex.

It says those complaining are beneath Maliba Lodge’s target market.

Phakisi hinted the same when he said the local market, Basotho to be precise, are the burger and chips diners. That might be true but not something a trained communicator would say.

Muckraker’s only wish is that the management of the ‘5-star’ Maliba would at least learn to spell. They think they are superior but spell severely as “serverly”.

They say “Basotho people” instead of Basotho. Superior people who are hostile to commas and full stops. Phew!

Nka! Ichuuuuuuuuuuu!

muckraker.post@gmail.com

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