Picture this: You are the CEO of a mining company, sipping your morning coffee, scrolling through social media, when suddenly — boom! Your company is trending online, and not in a good way. Your phone starts buzzing like an angry beehive. The media hacks are calling. The investors are panicking. And your PR person? They are probably updating their CV.
That was 2025 in Zimbabwe for some companies, where public relations weren’t just about looking good in the press anymore, but staying alive in business.
What is it happened?
For quite a while, companies have been treating their PR departments like that distant cousin you only invite to weddings; nice to have around, but not exactly important. Suddenly, that cousin has become the most important person at the table. All because a fire broke out in the pantry.
In an economy where the lights went out more often than they stayed on, where water supply is as unpredictable as a Harare afternoon drizzle, and where inflation made budgets obsolete before the ink dried, even the smallest hiccup become a full-blown crisis faster than you can say “load shedding.”
And here is the kicker: social media has turned us all into broadcasters, including our grannies. That disgruntled worker? They are not just complaining to their spouse at bedtime anymore. They are posting videos that rack up thousands of views before lunch. That quality issue? It’s not staying in the factory, it’s going viral.
Why keeping workers quiet backfires, spectacularly
Let’s talk about what happened with some of our Chinese-owned mining operations this year. For years, these companies operated under a simple philosophy: “We have connections at the top, so who cares what the workers say?”
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Well, everyone cares, so they discovered. Especially when videos of scuffles, unsafe working conditions, and outright racism start circulating online. Especially when allegations of unpaid wages and, let’s not sugarcoat this, physical abuse become impossible to ignore.
Here’s what these companies learned the hard way: You can’t lobby your way out of a viral scandal. When even government officials find it hard to ignore, and start issuing public warnings about labour violations. You know you’ve crossed a line you didn’t even know existed.
What’s the lesson here? That fancy Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report collecting dust on your shelf? It better reflect what’s actually happening on the ground. Because workers have smartphones, activists have platforms, and your reputation has an expiry date shorter than milk in a power cut.
The yoghurt whose shelf life told a bigger story
Now, before you think I’m just picking on mining companies, let’s talk about something we can all relate to: yoghurt. Specifically, Dairibord’s Yummy Yoghurt recall in October. Ypu could have missed it, perhaps you are never online. As if that’s a crime, by anyway…
Parents opened their kids’ lunchboxes to find yoghurt that had decided to evolve into something else entirely well before its expiry date. Cue the panic. Cue the recall. Cue the apologies.
But here is what got lost in the noise: context. You see, keeping yoghurt fresh when you are dealing with unreliable cold chains isn’t just a Dairibord problem, it’s a Zimbabwe problem. It’s an “our national grid is having a bad day (again)” problem.
The company issued apologies, which is good. But what they didn’t do enough of was explain the reality: “Folks, we’re fighting the same battles you are; power cuts, water shortages, the works. Here’s what we’re doing about it.”
Transparency isn’t about making excuses. It’s about helping people understand what you’re up against. Do it before the crisis hits, and suddenly you’re not the bad guy, you’re the company that’s been keeping it real all along.
The Influencers who influenced everyone into bankruptcy
And then there were the influencers. Yes, the madam so and so’s, and the Mama so and so’s.
Your favourite social media personality, you know, the one with the funny and entertaining content, suddenly starts promoting this “amazing opportunity.” All you need to do is contribute so your money grows on trees (sorry, that’s me). Ok, grows and grows. It all sounds legitimate, right? Wrong!
Very wrong. The company is found to be fraudulent-company, not until those running it disappear with everyone’s money-wrong. The fallout wasn’t just financial; it was a trust catastrophe. People stop believing in online endorsements. They stop trusting influencers. Some even stopped trusting their own judgment.
What is the wake-up call for businesses? If you’re partnering with influencers, you better do your due diligence. It sounds like big legal jargon but it’s about asking the necessary questions like: Do they understand what they’re promoting? Have they vetted the company they’re endorsing? Do they have crisis protocols if things go south? We may be asking too much of our influencers, but look, it could have got them clear of jail time.
It’s also about knowing that when the influencer you’re working with promotes a scam, their credibility isn’t the only thing that crashes, yours does too.
What do we need to do in 2026?
Here’s the thing: Every crisis I’ve mentioned had a common thread. It wasn’t just about bad luck or unfortunate timing. It was about companies not having communication woven into their DNA.
Think about it. When your operations team is making decisions about cost-cutting, is someone asking, “How will this look if it goes public?” When your HR department is handling labour disputes, is anyone thinking about the TikTok video that might follow?
Communication can’t be something you call in after the fact, like an ambulance to a car accident. It needs to be in the room when decisions are being made. It needs to have a seat at the strategy table, not just a cubicle in the basement.
For company leaders, the CEOs and board members, understanding strategic communication isn’t optional anymore.
It’s as fundamental as knowing your balance sheet. Because a crisis that destroys your reputation can destroy your bottom line faster than any market downturn.
When a crisis comes, and trust me, it’s not “if” but “when,” will you be ready?
Because 2025 taught us that in the age of smartphones and short attention spans, silence isn’t golden. It’s expensive.
*Lenox Mhlanga is a strategic communication consultant and trainer with over 25 years’ experience in the profession. He consults a portfolio of organisations that include blue-chip companies, government ministries, and CSOs in Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and beyond.
Contact: +263 772 400 656 | [email protected]
