Brand South Africa has dismissed media reports portraying the entity as beleaguered and claiming that operations have ground to a halt.
“This coverage has been generated by unauthorised access to confidential and internal documents which contain inaccuracies and misinformation about developments at the entity,” Brand South Africa said in a statement on Thursday.
The entity said it continues to be an award-winning agency with senior management and staff that are committed to their role as custodians of the Nation Brand, supported by a highly competent Board of Trustees.
To this end, Brand South Africa wishes to state the facts as follows:
- Brand South Africa’s Annual Performance Plan for 2021/22 was approved by the Board of Trustees and submitted timeously to the Executive Authority;
- The Acting Minister signed the tabling letter, and the document has been referred to Parliament for tabling on 12 May 2021;
- We are operating within an approved 5 year strategic plan 2020/21- 2024/25 (as approved by the Executive Authority and Parliament);
- As such, we have the responsibility to deliver and implement the approved strategic plan on an annual basis as per relevant prescripts. Therefore, there are no operational or budgetary issues;
- The vacant Executive Committee positions in the organisation are as a result of a moratorium put in place through a cabinet resolution to rationalise SOEs;
- Acting executive roles, including Acting CMO, have been rotated amongst various senior managers since the moratorium was imposed, and this measure has ensured that the entity functions as it should.
- Dr Petrus de Kock’s resignation as Acting Chief Marketing Officer after 14 days in the role, is unfortunate but doesn’t create a crisis as alleged or claimed.
“As a responsible entity, we will not be drawn into discussions on ongoing internal matters with the media. We reiterate that the organisation has numerous management and governance structures supported by legally approved processes that address any issues that the organisation may be facing at any given point in time.
“It would be premature and irresponsible of us as an organisation to be commenting on ongoing unresolved legal matters within the organisation in the media,” Brand South Africa said.
Despite the severe constraints imposed on the entity because of COVID-19, budget cuts, and a moratorium on the filling of vacancies, in the fourth quarter of the 2020/21 fiscal year the organisation achieved 92% of its targets.
“We have been agile in our response, and have found new and creative ways of ensuring that the mandate we are tasked with, namely to promote the Nation Brand, continues,” Brand South Africa said.
These include:
- the successful hosting of an online Mining Investment Forum which engaged South African companies and potential international investors on the South African mining industry.
- In addition, a proactive campaign to demystify misconceptions regarding the 501Y.V2 variant of Covid-19 to protect the country’s reputation in the domestic and international markets.
- SAnews.gov.za
