Dalai Lama ban has backfired on Government

The notion that the visa was refused because the Dalai Lama might cause negative publicity ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup next year is as pathetic as it is fatuous and quite beyond the realms of credibility. So much so, that one has to feel extremely sorry for those Government spokesmen who have to stand up in front of the media and pass on this kind of insane, knee-jerk message.

But then, Cabinet is pretty much well known for making its messengers look stupid. That's probably why it doesn't do it itself.

It's not about 2010

It would not take the dumbest first year marketing or PR student more than a minute to realise that this issue has got nothing to do with the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It has everything to do with an aspect of marketing called customer service and the things one has to do to keep important clients happy.

And, in this case, that very important customer is China. There can be no other answer.

Some years ago, I advised a number of my clients not to put all their eggs in the Chinese basket both from the point of view of exports, imports and moving their manufacturing facilities to that country.

Business sense

Not necessarily because Chinese manufacturing quality was dodgy, which in many cases it has turned out to be, but simply from the plain old common sense business practice of not having more than 20% of one's business in the hands of one customer.

South Africa, unfortunately, has not only put far too many of its eggs in the Chinese basket but has committed itself so deeply to the relationship that it would cause immense job losses, financial losses and losses of face, to upset the Chinese applecart in any way.

The irony of this situation is that the amount of bad global publicity SA has created by coming up with such a lame excuse for denying the Dalai Lama a visa, could have been lessened quite considerably had Cabinet just been honest about it all. Explaining that China was an important trading partner and responsible for X millions of dollars in trade and Y thousands of jobs.

While this would still have galled a lot of people, others might have seen the sense, however immoral it might have appeared.

Marketing and morality

Even more ironically, one day Government might well discover that while it seems now to believe that morality, money and marketing don't mix, the truth of the matter is that morality has a very important role to play in marketing if the idea is to generate a sustainable flow of money.

I have, for some years now, had a distinctly uncomfortable feeling about the way in which South African importers have blindly embraced Chinese products. They have flooded the country's retail shelves and I worry that this lemming-style rush is going to come back and bite us on the national bum.