One of the more challenging aspects of doing business in South Africa is the propensity of people to “mobilise” (Read “weaponise”) special interest or political groups against businesses. 

This could take various forms but some of the more common include: 

  • The so-called “construction mafia” arriving at your business and shutting down your operations as part of extortion tactic
  • A political party threatening a demonstration at your business premises 
  • Disgruntled current or former staff members threatening to air issues in the medi
  • Schools have found themselves having to defend themselves against regulatory stakeholders who have adopted heavy-handed approaches to internal issues

In an era fueled by social media and “sound bites”, these events are designed to fuel emotive responses and whip up a frenzy rather than constructive dialogue. 

How would your business respond if a Member of Parliament sent you an e-mail saying that they would shut down your business if you didn’t take certain operational decisions around suppliers or staff members? In South Africa, this isn’t an unusual occurrence. 

Does your business have the ability to respond if it receives an e-mail at 2pm from a journalist claiming: “Special interest party XXX has accused your SME of killing a Billion Rand industry in South Africa – we would like your 250 word response in the next 3 hours before we go to print.” 

Think it won’t happen?  This is a real-world example of a matter we had to respond to recently. 

There was no interrogation of the facts. It was “fact” because this special interest group had said so. 

  • No context 
  • No data backing up the claim
  • No questioning of the credentials of the person making the claims 
  • The journalist has decided their position on it 

… and you have 2 hours in which to formulate a response in a couple hundred words around the dynamics in multi-billion Rand industry.  

The issue of intimidation is further exacerbated as these groups are emboldened because they know they enjoy political cover and limited enforcement from the police and security services. 

A very good example of this in the South African context is the matter around SA’s largest bus operator – Intercape – having to take the Department of Transport and the Police to court on no less than 5 occasions to enforce the rulings that they must protect the bus operator. 

Literally a company is required to get a court order to tell the police to do their job.  

The police in turn argue that businesses would rather keep quiet than bring issues out into the open. This culture of secrecy encourages further intimidation tactics to be applied. 

All of the above presents a very challenging operating environment for businesses who are already grappling with a constrained economy. 

If you would like to discuss a communications strategy for your business, please do not hesitate to contact us.