Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management

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Alliance News > PRISA Man Leads World Public Relations Body

January 2006

Sejamothopo Motau, ambassador-at-large and Fellow of the Institute of Public Relations and Communication Management in Southern Africa (PRISA), has taken the leadership of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (GA), the world body for the public relations profession.

Motau took office on 1 January 2006 and his two-year term will end on 31 December 2007. He is the third person to lead the organisation and has been chair-elect of the GA for the past two years. He took over from Mr Jean Valin, APR Fellow CPRS of Canada. The first chairman of the GA was Professor Toni Muzi Falconi of Italy.

“This is a great honour and a challenge I intend to take on with determination and humility,” said Motau. “ I believe it is also a feather in the cap of PRISA, South Africa and the African continent. This is a clear indication that public relations practitioners in South Africa are up there with the best in the world.”

Sejamothopo Motau, GA Chair

The GA has 62 national and non-national public relations associations, referred to as members or partners, representing more than 160 000 public relations practitioners in every continent of the world. The body operates as a virtual organisation and it is registered as a not-for-profit company in the United Kingdom. The London based Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and PRISA, based in Johannesburg, provide the secretarial and financial functions of the organisation.

The GA’s vision is, “One profession, one voice” and the leadership is working diligently with its member associations to bring all public relations organisations in the world under one umbrella. The members have already adopted a global protocol on ethics in public relations and work is progressing on efforts to standardize a global public relations curriculum.

After serving two years as PRISA’s first vice president, Motau became president in 2000. He was declared The Star’s “Public Relations Man of the Year” during the same year. In 2005 he received a merit award for his “significant contribution to the development of public relations in Africa” from the Federation of African Public Relations Associations at a FAPRA conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

Motau is a former journalist with the Pretoria News and The Star. His involvement with public relations started in1987 when he was appointed press officer by Anglo American Corporation. He subsequently transferred to Anglo’s sister company, De Beers Consolidated Mines, in a similar role. Later he was seconded to the Diamond Trading Company, the De Beers marketing arm in London, where his brief was Canada and the United States.

Subsequently he has headed the corporate affairs departments at Transnet Limited and Sasol Limited. He now heads the corporate affairs division at DaimlerChrysler South Africa.

A Fulbright scholar, Motau holds a Master of Journalism degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and two degrees in communication from Unisa. For his junior degree at the university he specialised in public relations, print and television. He is an accomplished public speaker and has spoken in South Africa, various other parts of Africa and the world on a variety of subjects including public relations, image and reputation management, multicultural communication, affirmative action and transformation. An experienced presenter, he has facilitated workshops on corporate communication, media relations, internal communication and crisis communication management.