Delivering the Budget vote of the Government Communication and Information System, which falls under his purview, in Parliament on Tuesday, 15 May 2007, Dr Pahad said that a brand equity study first conducted in 2003 valued the South African Brand at R379.5 billion.
Because of the work done by the International Marketing Council (IMC) to elevate awareness of the country, the value attached to Brand South Africa today, he said, is R516.6 billion.
This valuable imprint on popular consciousness – which is what an established brand represents – coincides with a move by the IMC to extend the SA country brand formula from the borders of the UK and the US to India, an emerging economic giant.
The IMC has brought about a sharper international profile of SA as a dynamic, emerging market, with its international image now less centred on it as a newly-liberated country.
Reporting on the achievements and challenges of the GCIS as he presented its 2007/08 budget of R375 812 million to Parliament, Dr Pahad said this increase in the organisation's budget arises out of the expansion of its operations, as well as those of the IMC and the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA).
The IMC, he added, has in the past year been registered as a public entity and has forged a close working relationship with the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), which itself continues to market the country abroad, riding on the wave of strong domestic economic growth.
The closer working relationship between the dti and the IMC has now resulted in the hiring of a joint brand manager, said Dr Pahad, as he outlined the growth of the GCIS from its origins almost 10 years ago with a budget of R48.7 million.
When the GCIS was established in 1998 as a communications agency tasked with informing South Africans of progress made and challenges encountered by the developmental state, SA's gross domestic product growth stood at just 1%.
Now, GDP growth is officially hovering at around 5% but some market watchers, considering the difficulties inherent in measuring SA's large Second Economy, believe Government's target of s6% GDP growth by 2010 has already been achieved.
Speaking at an imbizo in Mitchell's Plain on Tuesday morning ahead of the budget vote, Dr Pahad said: “Some of us think, including the President, that actually our economy is growing much faster than the official statistics demonstrate.”
“In my view we are beyond 6%,” Dr Pahad told a group of Mitchell's Plain residents assembled in hall in the massive Cape Town township that, along with Khayelitsha, has been designated an urban renewal node.
He added that more foreign direct investment is needed, especially in manufacturing, along with increased value-addition, for more jobs to be created but the climate has been created for this.
The IMC has brought about a sharper international profiling of SA as a dynamic, emerging market, with its international image now less tied to its dramatic past.
Recently, the IMC and the dti worked on successful trade mission to the US, an important source of foreign investment.
IMC also hosted a conference, where editors from leading commercial media from around the world engaged government and leading communicators on news selection so as to create a more balanced picture of the African continent, Dr Pahad added.
With South Africa about to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, its work is expected to increase.
The GCIS, the IMC, SA Tourism and the communication unit of the 2010 Local Organising Committee are all working together to co-ordinate all the 2010 communication messages, Dr Pahad said.
He added: “We are fully confident that, despite what some sceptics may be saying, SA will be ready.”
Article published courtesy of BuaNews
