With South Africa preparing to host the biggest football showpiece, the 2010 Fifa World Cup, negative talk about Africa abounds in the media. And it seems those who intend fighting the negativity are thin on ideas about how to go about achieving a positive image for the continent.
Last week’s ”2010 National Communication Partnership Conference” proved that much. Delegates repeated unintelligible rhetoric and presenter after presenter suggested that all should ”speak with one integrated and coherent voice”.
Conference chairperson Nkenke Kekana said: ”A joint effort by communicators from across the continent is necessary to take advantage of the unique communication opportunity that presents itself as a result of the first World Cup in 2010.
”To make this a truly African World Cup there is a need for linkages and partnerships among communicators across the continent and the diaspora. This year’s partnership conference is a step in that direction.”
Kekana’s statements at the start of the conference were supposed to give delegates a clear indication of what the meeting was about, but they ended up being just an indication of things to come.
The government, which has underÂÂÂwritten the event with R17,4-billion, fared no better in articulating a vision.
”The next four years will be a time to test our resolve in practical terms, informed by our common goal of building a better Africa; communicators from all corners of Africa should strive to speak with one integrated and coherent voice,” said Minister of Sport and Recreation Makhenkesi Stofile.
Perhaps the communicators should have focused more on state readiness instead of arranging an elaborate talk shop.
Construction of the stadiums to be used for the World Cup is ahead of schedule. In fact, the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium is set to make the record books if it is completed on schedule. It is expected to be completed by December 2008.
Construction of the stadiums is not the only success story. Fifa has signed up Telkom as the ”national supporter” of the 2010 World Cup, making it the main partner for fixed-line network infrastructure provisioning to broadcast the event to audiences across the globe.
Instead of emphasising the obvious positives, the ”communicators” spent the day using a language only they understood.
International Marketing Council chief executive Yvonne Johnston suggested that ”tourism talking points should be prepared and distributed to all African countries to ensure that there is only one message” and small, medium and micro enterprises should be told about the 2010 opportunities.
”The more we promote the success stories of Africa, the more other African countries take control of the reputation management of their countries,” Johnston said.
The speakers did not seem to be on the same page — each had a different view about Africa’s negative image.
Ben Egbuna, director general of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and president of the African Union of Broadcasters, told the Mail & Guardian: ”If you watch BBC news or CNN news, you will think that Africa is finished, but you cannot live only with negative attitude. What we are saying is that if there are negative reports there should also be positive reports.
”They want us to lose self-confidence and that will not happen. This is an African World Cup and we are going to host a very successful one no matter what people might say.”
Egbuna pointed out that Africa should let journalists write whatever they wanted because they could not be controlled and would not write only good stories. He said the focus should be on preparations for the World Cup.
But others had other ideas. Johnston lobbied for a ”Good News Day” across the continent, with the media asked to carry only good news stories for a day. She said: ”I am gatvol [fed up] with negative headlines. Africa’s time has come. The African media has a duty to use the 2010 World Cup as an opportunity to counter the wrong perceptions and highlight positive images and values about Africa.”
The communicators will hold another conference next year. With luck by then they will have better ideas about what should be done to improve Africa’s image.
Right now they seem just to be adding to the damaged image.