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Let's tell the truth about South
Africa
Over the last
weekend we were privileged once more to interact with members of
our International Investment Council. As the country is aware, the Council
is made up of leading international business leaders drawn from many parts
of the world and various sectors of the global economy. Our country and
government are indeed very fortunate to have such a distinguished panel
of business leaders serving as our voluntary advisers.
At its sessions the Council has the opportunity to interact
with a delegation of our Ministers and senior officials, led by the President.
The meetings address a common agreed agenda but also give the members
of the Council the opportunity to raise any matter they may consider relevant.
The government undertook at the founding of the Council
to make every effort to present the members of Council with as accurate
and detailed a picture of the situation in our country as possible, to
give the Council the possibility to add value to the national effort for
reconstruction and development. From the beginning, one of the agreed
ground rules was that members of Council should speak out freely, frankly
and critically on any and all matters.
The weekend session was the third meeting of the Council
and probably its most focused. It was conducted in keeping with the ground
rules we have just indicated. It reviewed matters that had been discussed
at the last meeting with special emphasis on whether what had been agreed
upon was implemented.
It considered reports on the state of the economy, the
recently presented budget and the short and medium term economic programmes
of the government. It also discussed various elements of the state of
our nation, including the important question of the fight to push back
the frontiers of poverty and expand access to a better life.
At the previous meeting, the members of Council had
raised serious concerns about some persisting negative perceptions of
our country internationally. They had urged that the government should
take steps to address this issue as, among other things, it led to unfavourable
economic consequences. These included especially the flow of international
capital into our country.
They gave specific advice based on their own experiences
about how we might handle this communication campaign in order to produce
the necessary results. They undertook that they would also continue to
communicate the positive news coming out of South Africa as frequently
as possible. And indeed, they did as they had promised.
Because of the strong focus on this matter of the projection
of South Africa at the last meeting, it was necessary that the government
should inform the Council on what it had done to respond to the concerns
and the advice of the Council. The International Marketing Council (IMC)
which our government and the private sector co-operated to establish therefore
made a presentation to the Council about its work.
The Council expressed its appreciation of the work that
had been done since it raised the matter of our image internationally.
It was also very supportive of the vision, the programme and the work
of the IMC which it felt were correctly focused.
Further to take this process forward, the members of
Council also undertook to make an additional effort to reinforce the work
of the IMC so that we actually succeed to address the persisting negative
international perceptions about our country. I must here make the point
that, of great importance to us, the members of Council are not happy
merely to criticise as interested observers.
They also go out of their way to participate in the
process of helping to find solutions. In addition, they also work to help
implement the agreements we reach with them. Voluntarily, they work as
ambassadors of our country and people. In this respect, we can truly count
them among the mass army of volunteers for the letsema programme, activists
of Vuk' uzenzele!
At the end of our meeting, the members of Council had
the possibility to inform the media and the country of some of their observations.
Accordingly, they openly stated their admiration of the work our government
and country had done to address the economic and social challenges we
face.
They explained that they were pleased with the progress
that had been made in responding to matters of concern they had raised
especially at the previous meeting. They were forthright in stating that,
with regard to many aspects of the management of the national economy,
South Africa was out-performing even some of the leading countries of
the European Union.
While not pretending that we had finally solved the
problems we inherited from the past, they were also greatly encouraged
by the progress being made to change the lives of all our people for the
better. They had also noticed the progress made even in such areas as
the containment of crime.
The serious question they posed both during the meetings
of Council and in the comments they made at the press conference was -
why was the (negative) international perception of South Africa so much
at variance with the (positive) reality of South Africa!
Of course, they then went on to say what they think
should be done to address this disjuncture between perception and reality.
We have already indicated that they resolved to embark on additional steps
to reinforce the work of the IMC.
It is clear to the members of Council that we, South
Africans, are, in good measure, responsible for the creation and sustenance
of the negative perception which damages our country and which is at variance
with what is actually happening in South Africa. During the meeting, they
even cited specific instances of how South Africans encourage this negative
attitude towards our country.
They are truly puzzled as to why South Africans should
bad-mouth a country of which they should be proud. That sense of puzzlement
is shared by many of their business colleagues throughout the world. They
are amazed that these South Africans seem to be unable to see the real
and exciting progress being made in their own country to address problems
that exist in all countries of the world, and which progress other people
in the world appreciate.
In summary, they pointed to three main factors with
regard to this issue. These are:
- deliberately negative messages communicated by some of our business
people;
- deliberately negative messages communicated by some within the media;
and,
- less than optimal effectiveness in government communications.
At the press conference at the end of the meeting
of Council, we appealed to the media to respond practically to the observations
and concerns of the International Investment Council. In this regard,
we said that all that was required in reality was that the media should
tell the truth about what was happening in our country, without resort
to any falsification of our situation.
As we have indicated, as government, we also observe
this same principle as we interact with the International Investment Council.
I should say that we follow the same principle in our work with the International
Council on Information and Communication Technology. We tell the members
the truth, so that they can form an objective opinion about our situation
and therefore help us with quality advice that is as accurate and responsive
to our real situation as possible.
The question remains to be answered whether people working
in the media and other South Africans are ready to join the campaign to
tell the truth about South Africa. None of us have to pay anything in
order to tell the truth and therefore cannot plead that there is an unaffordable
cost attached to telling the truth about country.
The researchers at the University of Stellenbosch that
we cited in the State of the Nation Address made the point that information
was easily available with regard to the performance of government. They
have made the point that because our democracy respects the principles
of transparency and accountability, it is fairly easy to get the data
that enables anyone to see what is happening in the country. Members of
the International Investment Council have made the same point. They assess
this is one of the strengths of our country.
Thus all economic actors interested in our country have
the possibility to take actions based on concrete reality that is presented
in an open and accessible manner. It is partly for this reason that the
members of Council are concerned at the way this positive factor is undermined
by what South Africans say and do, negatively influencing other people
who assume that, because they are South African, they know best about
what the future holds for our country.
One of our problems as a country and a people is that
we have not yet fully overcome the limitations imposed on us by many years
of international isolation. Many of our people know very little about
what is happening in the rest of the world. In some instances this results
in the belief that some problems are only specific to ourselves while
the rest of especially the developed world has rid itself of the problems
we experience.
All this is true, for instance, with regard to the issue
of crime. Some among our own people seem quite happy to communicate the
most horrible image of our country in the belief that we are the worst
in the world and somewhat an ugly aberration in terms of global human
society. These people are therefore proud to proclaim things they would
never be able to substantiate, such as that - South Africa is the crime
capital of the world!
To illustrate how wrong these views are, let us now
cite just a few instances of the incidence of crime in the world, as reflected
in international police and criminal justice literature.
An article published by the UK Ministry of Defence on
Russian Organised Crime by R.W. Dellow says: "In (the Russian Federation)
it is estimated that there are 5-8,000 (crime) gangs with 100,000 members.
80% of businesses pay protection money and criminally controlled enterprises
account for 40% of Russia's GNP. Further figures state that between 10
and 30 billion US dollars are transferred abroad each year."
The January 2001 issue of "Police Magazine"
carries a speech given by David Griffin, Executive Officer of the Canadian
Police Association. Among other things he said that: "There is growing
concern within police and international enforcement communities that Canada
is haven for organised criminals. The Criminal Intelligence Services Canada
has stated that virtually every major criminal group in the world is active
in this country.Over a 24 hour period in Canada, $6 million worth of heroin
will be imported into Canada; 21 to 43 illegal aliens will arrive; $14
million will be obtained through tele-fraud; 500 vehicles will be stolen."
The French Interior Ministry reports that "the
central criminal investigation directorate is in charge of dealing with
organised crime in its various forms, every year bringing more than 24,000
legal proceedings."
During December 2001, the British press published a
report prepared by the British Association of Chief Police Officers. In
this report they said that "most senior police officers believe that
the battle against organised crime is being lost. Over the past five years,
the number of the most serious offenders has grown by an average of 33%
each year, despite a quarter of these being the subject of live intelligence
and operational activity during that five year period."
Clearly, all these countries, by their own admission,
are experiencing serious problems of crime escalation. Undoubtedly their
governments and law enforcement agencies are working to respond to this
situation, as we are doing.
But these governments and countries have no people who
believe they have a mission to trumpet to the world how bad their own
countries are, being happy to do so. We do. The members of our International
Investment Council are puzzled as to why some among us seem happy to proclaim
failure, which nobody else in the world does, and avoid telling the truth
of success, which everybody else in the world does.
The honest among us know why we seem to depart in such
a grotesque manner from what is the norm globally.
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