Zuma 'the CEO of SA Inc'

2008-09-08 09:28

Chris Moerdyk

I can't help but crack up with laughter every time I hear a business leader in our country insisting that Jacob Zuma should stand trial and that justice must seen to be done, morality upheld and ethics not compromised.

Because, if South Africa was a company, justice would have been corrupted, morality would not have been given a second thought and ethics would have gone out of the window in a heartbeat.

South Africa Inc's marketers and accountants would have had a look at the situation years ago and come up with the following strategy:

1. With almost half of SA Inc's target market (population) being under the age of 25, the most important thing would be to have a CEO who young people respected. Conclusion: Jacob Zuma seems to be the only person in the country that the majority of our youth look up to.

2. Given the current pro-Zuma demonstrations all over the country, dragging Zuma through the courts would clearly annoy not only the youth market (population) but probably the majority of the 47 million consumers in this country.

Conclusion: While it is all very well getting all huffy and puffy about wanting justice to be done and ethics upheld, the perception (and in marketing perception is everything and reality absolutely nothing at all) would be that the popular choice for CEO (Zuma) is being sidelined by a minority of shareholders with a grudge to bear (Mbeki & Co).

Brand loyalty

3. Not having Zuma as CEO would mean a serious drop in brand loyalty for SA Inc and while unhappy consumers cannot exactly go anywhere else (because SA Inc is a monopoly) they would most certainly take to the streets and trash the establishment by becoming unruly, civilly disobedient, uninterested in democracy and just thoroughly destructive and objectionable (the politically violent equivalent of consumers doing things like boycotting shops, setting trains alight when they are late and so forth)

4. The board of directors of SA Inc would follow the same process that most other companies in South Africa do when they find one of their senior executives, chairpersons or directors with their fingers in the till, robbing them blind or indulging in illegal share dealing. They would come to a compromise solution where the culprit is let off scot free on condition he does not say anything bad about the company. All in the interests of ensuring that the brand and reputation of the company is not damaged by a scandal.

5. It therefore stands to reason that if South Africa was a company, Jacob Zuma would never have been charged with anything in the first place and because companies don't have to mess about with thing like elections and what have you, they would simply have made him CEO ages ago so that he could work his charm and magic on the majority of shareholders and customers of SA Inc. And like a lot of businesses, promise them all something he couldn't really deliver and thus creating a headache for whoever came after him.

High and mighty

I am not for a minute suggesting that I believe Mr Zuma should not stand trial. I am just, for the heck of it, converting a political scenario into what seems to me to be a very popular business model.

But, as a marketer with an eye for long term brand loyalty, I agree with Mr Zuma who has often said that he would like his day in court to clear his name. Whether he will or not, I have no idea, but I can see the marketing value of him wanting to protect his own brand image.

I am also simply trying to suggest that business in this country shouldn't start getting high and mighty on things like justice, morals and ethics. I know I shouldn't generalise, I know, but when it comes to crooks, far too many business people in this modern world make politicians look like rank amateurs.

As proved by the fact that according to World Trade Organisation statistics, global companies spend R25 trillion (yes - 25 million, million rands) on backhanders, bribery, corruption and other completely illegal ways and means of protecting and growing their businesses.

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