By Greg Hazley
The PR firm handling the arrest of Olympian Oscar Pistorius for the athlete and his family in South Africa is pulling back from its work.
"We are in the process of a hand over to the family," said Janine Hills, CEO and founder of Vuma Reputation Management, based in Johannesburg. "We will still support them."
VRM was brought in by Pistorius' PR and sports marketing counsel of the last two years, London-based Fast Track, part of Chime Communications.
VRM, which said at points it was handling thousands of media inquiries a day on the global story, clashed with Pistorius' father last week and worked to distance the athlete from racially tinged remarks by him.
"Oscar Pistorius's family is deeply concerned about the comments made by Oscar's father, Henke Pistorius, to UK newspaper the Telegraph about the family using its weapons to defend themselves against crime in South Africa, and especially about his comments that the ANC government is not willing to protect white South Africans," the firm said in a statement March 4.
Pistorius, arrested and charged with premeditated murder in February after the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, is out on bail pending a June court appearance. |