Johannesburg — When the presidency of the Group of 20 rotated to South Africa last year, the government quickly embraced the opportunity to highlight the country’s assets and advocate for an ‘African agenda’. In November, leaders of G20 members – 19 of the largest developing and developed countries and the European Union and Africa Union – will convene in Johannesburg for the two-day annual summit – for the first time on the African continent.
“This highlights the growing importance of the continent in global economic, political and environmental discussions,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told G20 Foreign Ministers in February. “The Summit’s location underscores the need for African voices to be heard on critical global issues, like sustainable development, the digital economy and the shift toward green energy,” he said. “It is a great opportunity to promote greater collaboration between African nations and the rest of the world.”
South Africa has chosen as the G20 theme “Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability” and has set four priorities for its Presidency: – disaster resilience and response, debt sustainability for low-income countries, finance for a just energy transition, and critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development. The government also is coordinating task forces focusing on inclusive growth and reduced inequality, food security and using AI for sustainable development as well as an initiative on critical mineral to prioritise increased investment in exploration and beneficiation.
Spearheading the country’s G20 promotion effort is the official marketing agency, Brand South Africa. In an interview with AllAfrica’s Nontobeko Mlambo, Brand SA CEO Neville Matjie described his organisation as “custodian of protecting the brand” with outreach initiatives that are both global and local. Martjie was appointed CEO in February. He previously headed the trade and inward investment promotion agency for KwaZulu-Natal province and is a graduate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal with a Masters of Science from Edinburgh Napier University. In the interview, he stressed to crucial role for South African citizens “to fly the flag” by supporting national sports teams, buying locally produced products and sharing the country’s natural assets with the world. “We’ve got to educate people about our country,” he said. He also emphasized that South Africa is hosting the G20 Summit as the continent’s representative, echoing what Ramaphosa has said since assuming the G20 presidency in November. The interview with Matjie has been edited for clarity.
With the G20 Summit set to make history by taking place in Africa for the very first time. Here in South Africa has crafted an ambitious campaign designed to highlight South Africa’s unique strengths on the global stage. Brand SA is at the forefront of reshaping narratives and showcasing the vibrant and diverse spirit of our nation. How important is national branding for South Africa amid the current global geopolitical climate?
It’s very important for us. As Brand South Africa, we are the custodian of protecting the brand and ensuring that the brand is seen in a positive light domestically as well as globally. Most of our activities are global activities, purely because that’s a market that we wanted to attract to South Africa.
South Africans are proud to be South African.
It’s also imperative for South Africans to live the brand. Amidst the geopolitical issues that we are currently experiencing [it] is more critical for us. We’ve just completed the State of the Nation Brand Report, which seeks to talk to South Africans in terms of their alignment to the brand, looking at nationhood, looking at citizenry, and looking at how they are there to support the initiatives of brand South Africa in living the brand.
What we have picked up in that study is a lot of South Africans are actually proud to be South African, and they are proud to associate themselves with being South African before anything else. And that in itself, has really shown us a positive spin in terms of the importance of actually living the brand. What some of the geopolitical tensions have actually done, they have reinforced the sense of of nationhood for South Africans, because you’re seeing a lot of South Africans protecting the brand similarly you would have seen in other markets.
South Africa is such a great country to live, work and do business in.
The citizens of those countries are actually protecting the brand, the brand being the country image, domestically as well as internationally. And that is what we have seen as Brand South Africa, which is very positive.
We are known as the as a very diverse country with a very rich culture, and we are referred to as the ‘rainbow nation’s. But we face certain challenges, like high levels of crime. How are you leveraging South Africa’s cultural, economic and social strengths to counter negative stereotypes?
Yeah. We work very closely with the creative sector, which is a very important sector because it talks to the issues of culture. Through storytelling, we are able to amplify the message about South Africa being a great place to be. We also partner with a lot of sporting codes as well. When the Springboks [national rugby team] win the World Cup, or when they go to the World Cup, it encourages that nationhood, and as you say, that rainbow nation, that diversity, and that is what we continue to leverage on.
Brand South Africa will continue to support that sector because it’s a very important sector for, for encourage [the] nation. We don’t have to do too much. Of course, our national teams must win or really do well for us to really create that nationhood, and not only the Springboks. Banyana Banyana [women’s national football team] is doing very well. We’ve seen this also with the swimming teams. When we go to the Olympics, we’ve got to support our athletes.
‘Buying local’ supports employment and sustainability
We also supporting initiatives to encourage ‘buying local’ run by Proudly South African. We’ve just come back from Shanghai now with the clothing textile sector, which is an important sector. With the clothing textile sector, which is an important sector, some of our designers [are] showcasing their products in global markets.
How can South Africans contribute to and support positioning efforts nationally and internationally?
Yeah, there are few things that South Africans can do. The first thing is related to the sporting or the cultural events in ensuring that we continue to fly the flag as South Africans. We’ve got to translate that into a daily activity to ensure that we continue to showcase our flag in a positive light. The second thing is supporting locally produced products. When you support locally produced products, you are contributing to economic development. You’re supporting employment creation and employment sustainability for the country.
The third part is amplifying the message, using your social media platforms, about the importance and the beauty of South Africa and why South Africa is such a great country for people to live and to work and do business in. We are our best ambassadors about our own country, and we’ve got to educate people about our country.
How do you envision South Africa’s role as host of the G20 Summit, influencing its positioning in travel affairs?
Our president has made it clear that the G20 is not just a South African platform. Yes, we are proud South Africa has assumed the presidency, but it’s going to be representative of the continent of Africa. That has really been echoing and we’ve seen it quite extensively in what the President has done in integrating the African continent as part of the messaging. That is the initiative that we are driving as Brand South Africa to support looking at how Africa can benefit from the G20 coming to South Africa.
Active engagement by business groups (B20), women’s organisations (W20) and youth (Y20) from G20 member countries)
And as we’ve also narrowed our focus to critical areas. The B20, which is the business component, is very important for creating jobs and sustainability and also amplifying the strength of South Africa in terms of the manufacturing sector. And within that, there’s a line specifically linked to the special economic zones, which really are seeking to drive investments to also create more jobs, particularly focusing on the manufacturing sector. The second component is W20, the women’s agenda, which is very important. We are collaborating with W20 to ensure that we amplify the messaging around not only the advocacy part but also the business side. Similarly with the V20. the youth sector.
In terms of other government departments, we’re supporting, of course, Treasury is very important for us. Trade, Industry and Competition, as well as Minerals and Energy The media side also, quite important. And then Tourism -, very important for us. Of course, there are cross cutting elements that we are supporting, because G20 is so critical for South Africa that we’ve got to ensure we don’t miss the opportunity to ensure that we put the best foot forward on what South Africa is about.
“Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability” – the theme for South Africa’s G20 Presidency
If you look at the principles of G20 in terms of solidarity, in terms of social cohesion, and not [for] only our country, but [for] all the nations that will be coming to G20. Equity to ensure that we’re leveling the playing fields in terms of business, the academia and everyone who’s going to be participating. And then, of course, sustainability. In everything that we do, climate change has to be inculcated in the messaging because the sustainability of our land, the sustainability of our lives, will ensure the future for our children and our children’s children.
For your campaigns, what key performance indicators do you use to measure the impact of your work?
When we’re doing our marketing from a country perspective globally, we’re focusing about most of our efforts – 70% of our efforts – in the international markets and 30% domestically. And in our 70%, we are targeting key, critical markets that are partners to South Africa.
And we’re looking at [that] from a regional perspective. The African continent is, very important for us. Also the Middle East. We’re focusing on Europe, the Far East, and the Americas – both North and South America. Very critical in terms of our marketing campaign. We partner with the private sector as well as our [diplomatic] missions in those markets to ensure that we amplify the messaging of South Africa.
How we track our performance is really how the global markets respond to our messaging. Coming to invest in South Africa. We see the number of tourists coming to South Africa. That, in itself, becomes a key indicator for us.
And then domestically, we support a number of initiatives that seek to support South Africans, like the Play Your Part campaign that supports South Africans at the grassroots level who are assisting us in amplifying the message. When we see a change in behavior and a change in pattern, positively, that is our second KPI [key performance indicator ] that we focus on at a domestic level.
Thank you so much for that.
Thank you very much.
