Nikolaus Eberl
17 December 2008
column
Johannesburg — AT THE final media briefing of the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) held last week, its CE, Danny Jordaan, told the international press that "uncertainty over Zimbabwe will have no impact on the 2010 Fifa World Cup", adding that "no one presented the war in Kosovo as a threat to the World Cup in Germany, and no one presented Afghanistan as any major threat to any major event in Europe".
Aside from the fact that the Kosovo war ended in 1999, a whole seven years before the World Cup kicked off in Germany, and that Afghanistan is located on a continent other than Europe (a full 4564km away from Vienna, the hosts of the last major event hosted in Europe, the 2008 Euro), it is hard to see how we can invite visitors to "celebrate Africa's humanity", the 2010 brand promise chosen by the LOC, when thousands are dying on our doorstep and a ruthless dictator is allowed to starve an entire nation .
Beyond threatening to invalidate the 2010 brand promise, does the Zimbabwe crisis affect SA's brand image, and could it deter potential visitors from attending the 2010 World Cup?
Possibly the greatest threats to the regional brand image are the pictures of the Zimbabwean ordeal being transmitted to international audiences. CNN has been broadcasting an update on the crisis titled Desperation Up Close in Zimbabwe , showing citizens rummaging through garbage bins and burying relatives who have died of cholera.
Said the CNN reporter: "A child cries from hunger, but no tears come from her swollen eyes. Malnutrition has left this baby fighting for her life. She is the face of an unfolding crisis in a country once known as Africa's breadbasket.... Others huddle for warmth around a fire burning inside the shell of a broken-down van.... All these images were captured on video recently and smuggled out of Zimbabwe by Solidarity Peace Trust, a South African human rights group" -- pictures so disturbing that CNN issued a viewer warning before opening the video report.
Jordaan concluded his Zimbabwe statements by saying: "Those people barely have the energy to walk, how they can be a threat to us? I can't understand."
Does this mean the only relevance of the Zimbabwe crisis to 2010 is the potential threat of Zimbabweans crossing the border to SA in an effort to partake in the world's biggest soccer event? Do we really want to close our eyes and pretend that "celebrating Africa's humanity" has nothing to do with political oppression and disregard for basic human rights?
From a branding point of view, possibly the greatest threat to SA's brand image is what political analyst Chalmers Johnson calls "blowback": the unintended consequences of an unsympathetic or cynical foreign policy. What consumer backlash is to a brand, blowback is to a nation: when the disconnect between the brand message and corporate behaviour becomes too great, then public protest tends to be intense in proportion to the strength of the brand. This is because, according to the author of the quarterly nation brand index, Simon Anholt, "a brand, as the clear, highly visible manifestation of a country or a corporation, is as much an invitation to complain -- indeed, a target for grudges -- as it is a guarantee of quality ... the higher you raise people's expectations with a brand, and the more you invest in making big public promises, the greater the disappointment when you fail to keep them."
As far as the 2010 brand promise to "celebrate Africa's humanity" is concerned, we are standing at the crossroads between either paying lip service to transforming the continental brand image or starting to live the brand. Are we going to look beyond 2010 and help resolve the Zimbabwe crisis in an effort to create a legacy that will be meaningful for the people of SA and the entire region? Or will we close our eyes and hope that the world will stop taking an interest in the fortunes of our neighbour, and all 2010 will be about is a number of soccer games, stadiums and merchandising?
Dr Eberl is engaged in internal branding for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and is the author of BrandOvation: How Germany won the World Cup of Nation Branding.
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This should be an opportunity to showcase southern africa from a tourism point of view and South Africa's neighbour Zimbabwe should get their house in order Africans should be proud abouttheir abundance of natural beauty the only thing that spoils africa is the POLITICS
A matter of priorities: What does 2010 mean for Zimbabwe? The wellbeing of the Zimbabwean people is far more important than a footballtournement.
To J-hollow, AK-47, Phiri and any other defenders of ZANU-PF/Mugabe:
1) 231 MILLION per cent inflation! 2) 80% unemployment 3) How many zeroes did the RBZ take off the currency 3 months ago? 4) Hospitals and major healthcare infrastructure - closed 5) Schools and Universities closed for lack of plumbing/funding 6) Clean drinking water unavailable to 80% of the population 7) Cholera killing thousands in Zimbabwe 8) Intimidation and closure of the free press 9) Intimidation and suppression of the free right to assemble
This is the Bill of Indictment presented against the outcomes of the policies of ZANU-PF/Muhgabe. How do you plead?
Regardless of the "causes" or any blame you would like to assign to the "Imperialist West", take notice that all 9 (nine) Indicments are FACTUAL representations of the state of affairs in Zimbabwe while under the guidance of ZANU-PF/Mugabe's governance. Again, any excuse or blame you would like to use to defend yourselves is irrelevent, as all of the Indictments are internal matters to the people of Zimbabwe!
How do you defend the actions of ZANU-PF/Mugabe? With tired marxist-liberation slogans of the fight against the Capitalist (bourgeois) West!
You CANNOT defend ZANU-PF/Mugabe with FACTS! For Zimbabwe to have reached it's current depths under the "stewardship" of ZANU-PF/Mugabe since the "liberation" is itself, a crime against humanity.
If the situation in Zimbabwe deteriorates further with SA blocking international efforts - will the EU send teams to the cup?