Leading us astray

Published:2011/11/23 08:05:10 AM

A serious challenge for brand- building or enterprise development arises when corporates choose to fight social responsibility issues without due care, especially when they’re complex. Let’s review a good example of what I think is a poor construct.

Lead SA is seemingly a worthy social-conscience lobby organisation, engaged in matters of broad-based public interest. Driven by the Primedia group, Lead SA’s partner is the Independent Newspapers group . However, such initiatives can potentially fail the "public interest" mantra when poor knowledge and weak planning mean that seemingly nonrepresentative voices speak on their behalf.

Lead SA’s website says nothing about advisers and structures, but Primedia’s website states it is a group "broadcast" division, so it’s clearly a profit-centred unit and, hence, my real concern here.

A key initiative of Lead SA is its very public fight against rhino poaching. Pelham Jones is a director of Lead SA’s Rhino Action Group. He is a private rhino owner and chairman of the Private Rhino Owners Association.

It is estimated that 66%-75% of all rhino ownership vests with the state. A substantial majority of private rhino owners do not even belong to the association because of its fundamental stance on legalising rhino horn trade.

This anomaly means that Mr Jones, who is an ardent rhino-horn trade promoter, often speaks officially for Lead SA, via many Independent Newspapers national papers and radio stations within the partnership, on critical, national issues of rhino security, yet his own constituency is but a small minority of all rhino stakeholders.

SA’s socioeconomic and political dynamics demand broad-based representation. So how can Primedia and Independent Newspapers claim some commercial and/or moral high ground on representation here when it is clearly flawed?

Do corporate social responsibility investment executives always do their homework properly?

Leading SA? Methinks not, given this conflicted example.

Brian Sandberg

Durban