Zimbabwe not ready for rebranding

Obituaries
On March 12 2012, former Deputy Prime Minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU), Professor Arthur Mutambara presented his proposal for the rebranding of Zimbabwe. Titled, State Reconstruction in Zimbabwe, the presentation was made at the Centre for the Book in Cape Town, South Africa. Much as it is an incontrovertible fact that without […]

On March 12 2012, former Deputy Prime Minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU), Professor Arthur Mutambara presented his proposal for the rebranding of Zimbabwe. Titled, State Reconstruction in Zimbabwe, the presentation was made at the Centre for the Book in Cape Town, South Africa. Much as it is an incontrovertible fact that without fundamental changes to the repugnant socio-economic and political fibre of the Zimbabwean society, state reconstruction through the process of re-branding the country is an inherent impossibility, I managed to endure the hour-long presentation.

BY DR VIRIMAI VICTOR MUGOBO

The speaker took us through an eloquent and well-designed power-point presentation that clearly demonstrated his in-depth understanding of the theoretical issues around nation branding. However, when Mutambara ventured into the practicalities of rebranding Zimbabwe, the presentation became perfidious. He was at great pains to explain how exactly the country could be rebranded. He tried to over-explain, but many in the audience remained incredulous of his proposed prescription to the systemic Zimbabwean imbroglio.

As the convener opened up the discussion to the floor, several questions were raised from the audience, however I shall only dwell on the five issues that I regard as pertinent. The first issue was that rebranding a country is a long, expensive, and tortuous process and at the moment the country does not have the resources to implement such a quixotic and anachronistic programme. Secondly the GNU, as a transitional government, had no common mandate and resolve to engage in genuine long-term planning for the country. The GNU was a political settlement between a few political parties and lacked the national mandate and moral authority required for re-branding the country.

Thirdly, the major purpose of re-branding a country is to attract tourists, increase foreign direct investment, to create a favourable brand that will stimulate trade and exports. As Zimbabwe is still under “targeted” sanctions and has withdrawn from some multilateral institutions, the starting point should not be to re-brand the country but rather to engage with these international stakeholders and partners in order to create a springboard for the launching of the nation brand.

Fourthly, the issue of re-branding Zimbabwe was being driven by the opposition side of the GNU. Not even a single Zanu PF politician has been talking about the need to rebrand Zimbabwe. This is a huge anomaly because rebranding a country requires the achievement of national consensus in order to realise the required brand credibility, coherence and consistency. These three Cs (credibility, coherence and consistency) posit the fact that a nation brand should be borne out of a national vision, national consensus and a clear national programme of action.

Finally, any nation rebranding programme needs strong, ethical, committed and honest leadership. The nation brand leader needs to be an individual of high standing and integrity locally and globally. He or she must believe in the nation brand values and be able to live those nation brand ethos. It is clear that among the current crop of self-interested, rotten, corrupt, maleficent and misguided politicians in Zimbabwe, it will probably be a mammoth task to find an individual who has a credible and believable reputation to be the ambassador of brand Zimbabwe. A research study done a year ago on the rebranding of Zimbabwe found out that Zimbabwean politics on its own contributed about 70% of the negative perception associated with brand Zimbabwe on the global map. The study also found that out of the current political, business and social leaders, there is no one with a credible and clear-cut reputation to represent the brand Zimbabwe.

For Zimbabwe to be successfully re-branded and become a valuable member of the global community, the country needs to execute fundamental changes across the socio-economic and political landscape. Mere rhetoric or grandiloquence will take the country to utopia. Rebranding the country should start with the admission by the current leadership that it has dismally failed. The current regime needs to take responsibility for the mess that it has created and demonstrate a devout willingness to change its modus operandi for the betterment of the country. However, realistically speaking, the current regime is misguided and still imbued in revolutionary or independence-minded politics which has no relevance in today’s geo-politic. I do not see any realistic and positive change emanating from Zimbabwe in the short-to-medium term unless if something of a tsunamic proportion happens!

Zimbabwe in its current state is not yet ready for rebranding. What is it that we want to market to the world with our dilapidated roads, electricity shortages, ill-advised investment policies, human rights abuses, corruption, increasing poverty and political intolerance and many other unresolved tribulations? Is Zimbabwe an appealing, acceptable and value-added product or brand? If you consume brand Zimbabwe today, would you want to consume it again in future? If people visit Zimbabwe today, do they experience the so-called paradise on earth? Do we have the resources and capacity to raise ourselves out of this morass without external support? Do we have a leadership that has the moral and political will to create a “good” brand Zimbabwe? Do we have a good story to tell to the rest of the world? The answer to all these questions is a big NO and that means we must first go back to the drawing board, design and produce an acceptable, appealing, and value-added product before going out the world to proclaim that we are a new brand.

As I pointed out during the question and answer session on Friday March 12 2012, Mutambara’s calling to the GNU was temporary and the subsequent injudicious endeavour to rebrand Zimbabwe which he spearheaded vanished together with him from the national discourse once he was chucked into an eternal political dustbin. The rhetoric and grandiloquence is thus dead and buried and Zimbabwe remains a debased country brand.

  • Dr Virimai Victor Mugobo is a researcher and consultant in the field of nation branding. He is based in Cape Town, South Africa and can be reached on [email protected]