What Happened
A court ruled against Cape Town's tariff structure, exposing what critics say was an unlawful overreach by Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and the city administration. Residents who overpaid are now owed answers. Instead of a clear public response owning the outcome, the mayor's office has stayed largely quiet. That silence is not neutral. In a crisis like this, silence is a message. And it is the wrong one.
The Communication Angle
Here is the contrast that matters. When a public official loses in court on a matter that directly hits residents in their wallets, there are two paths available. Path one: get in front of it fast, speak plainly, take ownership, and tell people exactly what comes next. Path two: say as little as possible, hope the news cycle moves on, and let lawyers do the talking. Mayor Hill-Lewis appears to have chosen path two. That is a strategic mistake dressed up as caution.
Compare that approach to how effective crisis communicators handle court losses. The standard is not complicated. You state what happened in plain language. You acknowledge the impact on real people. You commit to a specific remedy with a specific timeline. Notice that none of those steps require you to fall on a sword. They require you to treat the public like adults. There is a enormous difference between those two things, and too many politicians confuse them.
What Hill-Lewis should have done is simple to describe. Within 24 hours of the judgment, the mayor should have stood in front of a camera and said something close to this: "The court found against us. Residents were overcharged. Here is what we will do to fix it, and here is when it will be done." No legal hedging. No passive voice. No shifting responsibility to a department or a process. The mayor's name is on this city. The mayor's voice needs to be on the response.
The silence strategy almost never works for elected officials, for one reason: you do not control the information vacuum you create. Critics, journalists, and opposition figures fill it for you. And they will not fill it in your favor. Faiez Jacobs writing a piece titled "Cape Town Is Not Your Private Kingdom" is exactly what happens when you leave that vacuum open. The narrative gets written without you.
This is exactly the kind of scenario I break down in Say It Right Every Time. The chapter on crisis ownership gives you a framework for separating accountability language from liability language, because the fear of one should never silence the need for the other. Most people conflate the two and end up saying nothing useful. That chapter shows you how to speak directly to the damage without handing your opponents a weapon.
Never Be Lost
for Words Again
Get word‑for‑word scripts for the conversations that shape your life, from job interviews and negotiations to difficult talks with family and partners, so you always know exactly what to say and how to say it.
Never Be Lost
for Words Again
Get word‑for‑word scripts for the conversations that shape your life, from job interviews and negotiations to difficult talks with family and partners, so you always know exactly what to say and how to say it.
Key Takeaway
Before your next public response to bad news, write down one sentence that starts with the words "We got this wrong because." If you cannot finish that sentence honestly, you are not ready to speak publicly yet. Force yourself to finish it. That single sentence, delivered clearly and without legal softening, will do more for your credibility than three pages of managed statements.
