Joel Netshitenzhe
Article: Letter from Tshwane
25 February 2000
South Africans can be their own worst enemies
A government delegation
visiting the United States some four years ago tells an interesting
story.
They met an Argentine
businessman who was extremely sceptical about our economic prospects,
because he believed an awful Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel
had been appointed.
So the South Africans
wondered: Had Manuel treated the Argentines badly - or had he
voiced a preference for the Brazilian soccer team? Challenged
to substantiate, his response was startling: these views were
based on what his peers heard from a team of South African businessmen
who had just visited Argentina. The South Africans had written
off their country’s Minister even before he started working.
We tell this tale
not to defend the Finance Minister - he does occasionally support
strange sporting teams - but to point out how South Africans
can be their own worst enemies.
Doubtless there are
problems in South Africa. And some of these have featured quite
prominently in the research conducted by Government Communications
(GCIS) among opinion-formers in eight countries. They referred
to violent crime, AIDS/HIV, and slow economic growth.
Yet without exception,
their starting point was praise for South Africa’s management
of a difficult political transition. There is significant goodwill
towards our country, and most respondents also welcomed the
smooth transition from what they called "Mandela Magic"
to "Mbeki Management".
Over 85% scored President
Mbeki positively as "a visionary, a doer; as focussed,
consistent". Widespread appreciation was expressed for
the government’s management of the economy, let alone our
weather and cultural diversity.
Most respondents had
come across the country from run-of-the-mill media reports,
whose idiom oscillates randomly from "miracle" to
"apocalypse". South Africa is under-marketed.
We have been doing
some brainstorming here in Tshwane, and are starting to implement
some solutions. What strategy is needed to promote the country?
How do we integrate the various imaging initiatives in government
and the private sector?
Cabinet has decided
to set up an International Marketing Council (IMC) chaired by
the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This will include Directors-General
of the relevant departments, CEO’s of SATOUR and Investment
South Africa, and representatives of the private sector, including
tourism, export and advertising. The IMC will report to the
Cabinet Committee on International Relations chaired by the
President. To ensure focus, a Project Manager is being appointed.
Structures…structures…?
This is one instance where they are needed to give life to an
idea, a genesis of a highly challenging project to build a South
African brand - a brand supported by a country strategy that
will distinguish us in the global marketplace and celebrate
our uniqueness as a nation.
We need to pull together
to attract tourists, maximise our export potential and enhance
foreign investment. Many other countries are doing it with pride,
expending huge resources, mostly with spectacular success.
But such positioning
requires something that is truly unique and recognisable: the
Swiss and watches, the Germans and efficiency, the Asian tigers
and hard work…
This is a tall order.
South Africa is only at the beginning of a tortuous process
of nation-building, let alone forging a collective profile.
But we have a lot going for us: tangibles such as flora and
fauna, new unique jewellery designs, cutting edge technology
in some areas and terrific music; and intangibles such as our
dramatic history of triumph of the human spirit which is perfect
material for film, the novel and tourist trails.
And there is our propensity
for hyperbole, a debating style that is as vivacious as it is
desperate: A politician asserts that government is fomenting
war in the Congo, and promises to carry the documents to the
United Nations; some allege that a President elected by 66%
of the electorate under one of the most advanced constitutions
in the world has disdain for democracy; and many of us recite
unsubstantiated statistics on crime as if they were a new catechism.
Yes, this psyche to
be either the best or the worst and nothing in-between is perhaps
a search for perfection that is the South African character;
this tendency that we cannot solve a problem if we have not
psyched ourselves up beyond rationality.
Logic dictates that
we should try to change our mind-set. But there is also a view
here in Tshwane that perhaps we do not need to, because this
is what we are. And over time the world will understand us,
and know when to ignore the ranting of self-flagellation.
In June, the International
Investment Council of eminent international investors ready
to promote investment and tourism in South Africa meets the
President.
When that meeting
takes place, there will be no third-party fairy-tales about
our Finance Minister. Steadily, more South Africans are abandoning
self-destructive innovation and acknowledging reality.
But, have we collectively
reached the stage yet, where we naturally commend the best that
South Africa can offer? Or are we tempted still to complain
about "rampant corruption, crime and rape" to our
friends abroad?
We do still have to
work on this, as we solve those difficult problems that are
real.
Joel
Netshitenzhe
CEO, GCIS
Issued by Government
Communication and
Information System
(GCIS)
Published
in Independent Newspapers
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