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Communications
2000: A vision for government communications in South Africa (Comtask
Report)
<Index>
Chapter
7: South Africa
seen from Abroad
7.1 South
African Missions Abroad
During its consultations
with other governments, the Task Group met with 19 South African
missions and with commentators and officials in 19 countries on
how South Africa was perceived and on the ways in which it was being
promoted.
32
We were impressed
with the determination of South African representatives to market
South Africa. In general, abundant goodwill still exists for South
Africa around the globe.
However, a large
majority of those we met sounded alarm bells - over a rising perception
of the problems besetting the country and the end of the 'honeymoon'
period for South Africa.
The lack of
a strategy and co-ordination in projecting South African policies
and priorities was expressed forcefully by heads of mission, and
most strongly by the HoM in the five G7 countries visited. Their
points are worth noting in full.
- The term
'the new South Africa' is a not a sufficient marketing strategy.
South Africa will not sell itself.
- Criticism
of South Africa is mounting (for example crime and perceived lack
of delivery), and there is no clear guidance, or overall strategy,
to address these issues.
- Information
flow to missions is inadequate. Missions need to know the context
of decisions, not just the bare facts, in order to be able to
motivate them. It is also essential that material be timely -
missions often receive ministerial speeches days after the media.
- In the bigger
missions dedicated informative attachés should be appointed.
- There is
a need for focus - the missions try to do too much because there
is no guidance on priorities. Resource constraints have added
further to this problem. At a time when interest is growing in
South Africa and the demand for information on mission staff has
escalated, the DFA budget has been reduced.
- No facilities
for missions to do local research on attitudes towards and perceptions
of South Africa.
- Several sympathetic
independent commentators noted that South Africa presents a confusing
set of messages which harm its efforts to promote its interests.
For example, cases were cited where ministers visited without
warning, and there was no involvement of the South African mission
- which undermines overall credibility. We were particularly concerned
that it appears that provincial governments and some ministers
do not involve the local missions when travelling, since this
results in the sum of efforts being less than its parts.
7.2 Foreign
communication efforts of host governments
During the visits,
the Task Group also investigated the foreign communication efforts
of host governments. By comparison, the standard of South Africa's
services is below that provided by most countries, especially those
which are its main economic partners or competitors. Unless this
problem is addressed, it will be difficult for South Africa to mount
and sustain the drive needed to maximise the economic and political
benefits from the existing international goodwill.
7.3 The growth
of electronic information systems
The growth of
electronic information systems has transformed the scale of information
exchange available to consumers and institutions seeking data. This
is especially important in the trade and commerce field, but also
in news and information. Virtually every government we visited in
Europe, the Americas and Asia, is ahead of South Africa in this
area. Comparable developing countries have sites, and major efforts
are made to make commercial and statistical information available
this way. South Africa needs to develop a national website into
which all departments can provide data. There is also an urgent
need to provide each mission with access to the Internet, and to
improve the level of technology available to them.
7.4 Close
co-operation between the trade and political arms of government
Close co-operation
between the trade and political arms of government is a feature
elsewhere, but seems to be lacking in South Africa. For example,
in Egypt and Hungary, the Foreign Ministries operate and integrate
cultural, trade and political information services utilising the
Internet and diplomatic/cultural missions. In Britain, the concept
of 'public diplomacy' is used to advance British interests through
an integrated programme led by the foreign ministry, but involving
other departments and institutions: visits and exchanges, the BBC
world service, the news and information arm of the government, as
well as trade promotion and information services. The advantage
of these approaches is that they explicitly target key groups such
as commerce and industry, support communities or exiles, as part
of foreign policy activity. These approaches define many of the
reforms and developments in foreign policy delivery in the countries
we visited. In general, we found that co-operation with the other
important arms of government involved internationally, such as Trade
and Industry and SATOUR, was insufficient.
7.5 Conclusion
We found much
to be encouraged by in our visits, particularly in terms of the
morale and professionalism of South Africa's representatives. The
emergence of a highly competitive international economy, and the
range of demands placed on South Africa because of its history,
place unique demands on the country's foreign policy machinery.
These will require the leadership of the Department of Foreign Affairs
but also the co-operation of other branches of government if South
Africa is to exploit fully the opportunities which exist.
Footnotes:
- See Annexure
4, a compilations of reports on international investigations and
Annexure 17, survey of South African missions conducted by the
Department of Foreign Affairs. See also Recommendations,
Improving South Africa's Image in the World
<Index>
<Previous> <Next>
<Executive
Summary> <Mandate> <Chapters:
One - Two - Three
- Four - Five -
Six - Seven
- Eight>
<Recommendations: Structures
- Functions
& Responsibilities
- Personnel & Training - Improving
SA's image in the world - Information
development - Access
to information
- Media environment> <Timetable
for implementation> <Submissions,
presentations, meetings> <Annexures>
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