Take a bow, South Africa
LOCAL company Reputation Institute, which sells itself as a pioneer in the field of brand and reputation management with a presence in 30 countries around the globe, has just given us more reason to be cheerful.
The good news is that foreign perceptions about South Africa have greatly improved, thanks largely to the month-long 2010 Fifa World Cup, which we hosted with aplomb.
The bad news - and what a crying shame - is that the populace have gradually begun taking a dim view of their own country, this the result of the public sector strike.
Our own home-grown naysayers aside, it is heartening to note that people outside our borders think the world of us.
In conducting the survey, we're told, the Reputation Institute asked respondents to measure four emotional factors - esteem, admiration, feeling and trust - on a scale of 1 to 7.
And we came out smelling of roses!
This is no mean feat considering that the respondents were citizens of 35 countries, notable among these, the G8.
Inside the latter group of nations, Germany, Italy and France scored us higher than their peers.
The post-World Cup survey showed an improvement in foreign perceptions of South Africa from 44,60 at the beginning of 2010, to 49,11 after the tournament, says Reputation Institute.
Now that we know the world thinks we're a beautiful and enjoyable country with a favourable environment to do business in, there's only one way from here: up.
Chris
Well the ANC, COSATU and Malema are trying their best to go the other way. DOWN the Zimbabwe way. Seems that the tripartheid alliance does not have the interests of the people on their minds, Just their own interests of trying to stay on top, at all costs ,of this fortune that they rule.Report Abuse