“Crisis times require a very specific kind of leadership communication”. According to Johansson and Bäck (2017), during such times a discursive and collaborative approach within networks seems to ensure a common goal and identity which is essential to address a crisis.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has earned the respect of many for taking decisive and timeous action to contain the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in South Africa. The Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA) aims to support him and the Ministerial Task Team in their attempts to save as many lives as possible in the country.

PRISA, Ornico and University of Johannesburg (UJ) are partnering to support members in their decision making around COVID-19 activities. Ornico will be providing weekly media coverage analysis of South African media and its reporting on the pandemic (bizcommunity.com/3 April 2020).

PRISA will establish both local and international partnerships to assist government communicators and its members to reach their objectives of managing the pandemic. The Strategic Communication Department at the UJ will be embarking on a network research project to understand the influence of local networks on crises such as the Coronavirus pandemic.

PRISA members are welcome to contact: Victor Sibeko (victor@www.prisa.co.za); Francois Van Dyk (francoisv@ornico.co.za) or Rene Benecke (rbenecke@uj.ac.za) for more information.

Issued by the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA)”