I’m sorry???? He fell off a chair. It happens. No-one is saying he fell off it through any fault of his own. There is no suggestion anywhere that he was drunk; he’s certainly no Kate Moss but he doesn’t look as if he needs reinforced chairs; and I’m sure that no-one deliberately sabotaged the chair. It just broke. It has happened to most of us at one time or another. It was just unfortunate that it happened on live TV.

The funniest part of the article is where the SABC says it isn’t sure how the video clip began circulating outside of the company. Let me see….national broadcaster doesn’t understand how anyone could have seen what they broadcast? Am I missing something here, or are they?

OK I’m being deliberately cheeky. The leaked clip was clearly lifted not by a viewer but by an employee – it has a timecode stamp on it which is a giveaway sign. But if they hadn’t leaked it, someone else would have. Five years ago it wouldn’t have been issue. No more than a couple of hundred thousand people are watching TV at that time of day, the incident would have come and gone. But Mr Nene’s response shows an alarming lack of understanding of the new media world we live in – to the point of naievity. It was only a matter of time before it hit YouTube and then the floodgates were open. We watch that stuff because we like it when that sort of thing happens to other people. It’s why we go to the circus and watch clowns throw custard pies at each other or trip each other up with those enormous silly shoes. It’s why we watch reality TV. This was inevitably going to be a viral hit.

How should Mr Nene have responded? With good grace, charm, and a sense of humour. All those jokes swirling around now about “chairmen” and the plummeting rand? He should have made them first. But he didn’t. He is muttering darkly into his legal briefcase and whimpering about a damaged ego.

Get over it Mr Nene, and get some solid PR advice from someone. In situations like this, rule #1 is “Make a virtue out of it”.  The next time you have a public appearance of any sort, take a foldup camping chair with you and set it up on stage. After an elaborate setup, make a comment like “I thought I better bring my own this time”. Everyone will laugh with you, and the world will carry on.