SA's national holidays and what they mean for a common identity and active citizenship

And then again, I am not sure we would want a single form of celebration in our country? Our various forms of expression are, in my view, ought to be seen as a celebration of our cultural diversity.

I also feel strongly that the answer to forging a new - and common - South African identity is not about us glossing over what our national holidays mean to different groups of people in our country. I believe that this will come from each of us acknowledging exactly what the national holidays invoke in each of us while realising that this is what South Africa is about. The past will never mean the same thing to us all, but in our collective South Africanness, in this democratic experiment in which we are all engaged and finding our way, we can begin to look at the present and future similarly. This is part of our living democracy - a term recently referred to by the Head of the Methodist Church, Bishop Siwa.

The role of corporate entities

While culture, heritage, expressions of democracy are all more grey than black and white, one thing that has a unanimous colour is that of money. Money is a currency that is similarly understood and appreciated - corporates and individuals alike.

I say this because I wonder about the responsibility and role of corporate entities - who monetise national holidays - in playing their part in contributing positively and meaningfully to building a shared understanding and meaning and also growing active citizenship.

Let us look at the recent Braai Day - which co-incides with National Heritage Day - which was conceived of in the retail industry to maximise the widely known South African braai. The concept of cooking food over an open fire is something that is common to most of us in this country, and we all know how food cooked over an open fire tastes - be it meat, bread, vegetables, stews. I'm sure we all have images in our minds right now. I applaud the retail industry for having the foresight to monetise something that is mostly a source of common enjoyment for the vast majority of South Africans.

However, I equally ponder about the responsibility of corporate entities to give back to communities to enable sustainable growth and development especially from campaigns like Braai Day? Many will be saying there are corporate social responsibility projects that are run by corporate entities. And corporate organisations also try to comply with the King III Report which encourages greater social investment as part of sustainable stakeholder relations management.

Are these projects enough to contribute meaningfully to the development of communities and active citizenship? Corporate entities implement innovative approaches to exploiting national days, also because they are all public holidays, to maximise their sales and profit. But do their investments into their social responsibility projects match their sales and profit and do they actually participate in the broader call for active citizenship by each of us to make this country what we would like it to be in 2030 and beyond?

Corporate philanthropy

One of the leading theorists on competitive advantage, Michael Porter has co-written a paper entitled the Competitive Advantage of Corporate Philanthropy, which looks at the concept of strategic philanthropy. The paper observes that what passes for strategic philanthropy is not "truly strategic, and often it isn't even particularly effective as philanthropy [since] increasingly philanthropy is used as a form of public relations or advertising, promoting a company's image or brand through cause-related marketing." While this may seem quite cynical, it may be quite telling since indeed, corporate entities have as their main objective the intention to maximise their profits and increase their market share. Porter however goes on to say that there is a way of making social investments more strategic saying, "Corporations can use their charitable efforts to improve their competitive context - the quality of the business environment in the location or locations where they operate."

This should become the focus of South African CSI objectives - towards contributing to communities to improving the quality of the communities in which their operations reside - through job creation and other forms of social investment - education initiatives, day care and after school programmes for minors, nutrition programmes. In addition, what role do corporate entities play in encouraging active citizenship and the convergence around building a common South African identity? Strong brands command attention, elicit desire from consumers and motivate aspirations, how do corporate entities use this power for the greater good of building the South African nation brand? And in this way, they simultaneously ensure their own success in that community. Utopian? Achievable? Or a corporate imperative for the sustainability of their communities and their own commercial interests? And beyond to a cohesive South Africanness?

Contributing to CSI activities

At the June 2014 Making CSI Matter Conference, a presentation by Cathy Duff showed that non-profit organisations (NPOs) receive at least the bulk - almost 20% - of their funding from South African corporate entities and certainly NPOs have received increased funding over the years.

The question that must be asked is, what proportion of profits from corporate entities are contributed to CSI activities - in-house or NPO run? The other question that must be asked is how do these programmes contribute to the development of communities? Are we moving communities further up the development trajectory? Are corporates playing their part to ensure that our citizens - our national human capital - are nourished, skilled and educated - to the extent that they can be in total control of their destinies? Are corporate entities ensuring their own survival through their investment in the development of our national human capital?

Research also shows that the best way to ensure social cohesion is to reduce the inequality between the haves and the have nots. Investing in the sustainable development of our human capital and therefore strengthening communities will inevitably and over time see inequalities decrease. But the only way to increase durable equality is through the development of people - not merely through the increase in their income levels.

Redefining CSI

I am of the view that corporate entities should relook their interaction and relationship with the communities with which they interact. I feel strongly that we need to redefine the concept of corporate social responsibility and what it means to the collective national development and active citizenship we so dearly desire.

I do know for sure that we cannot commodify and retail our way to social cohesion, building a common understanding and meaning of national holidays, and therefore a common South Africanness.