Why are SA’s firms silent on Nairobi massacre?

TUESDAY was the end of a holiday weekend in SA. Officially, it was Heritage Day. Unofficially, it was Braai Day. And because this year the public holiday happened to fall on a Tuesday, many families took an unofficial long weekend. And as normally happens over a long weekend, the world stops spinning. Except this year it did not. Nearly 4,000km north of Johannesburg, shoppers including Kenyan nationals, South Africans, British citizens, French, Canadians, Americans, Ghanaians and visitors and tourists from around the world went about their normal weekend routine of buying groceries, searching for birthday presents, watching movies and enjoying a meal with friends and family. Then their routine ended. Gunmen walked into the mall, allegedly threw hand grenades and opened fire. Although there are conflicting opinions, it appears that, at the time of writing, four days later, the Kenyan security forces have cleared and secured the mall, with some of the perpetrators killed and others taken into custody. Parts of three floors of the five-floor shopping mecca have collapsed. It is reported that 61 of those Saturday-morning shoppers have been killed, including the nephew of the Kenyan president. Six members of the security forces tasked with securing the mall have lost their lives. A terrible waste of human life.

For the moment, leave aside the political motivations, the objectives and the nationalities of the gunmen. Instead, look at the fact that this happened in a commercial setting — in a mall. What does a mall have? Shops, staff and customers. We already know that the customers were from a variety of countries. We can assume that the majority of the staff were Kenyans. What of the shops? The tenants?

A lot of these tenants have headquarters in SA. Since 1994, South African investment into the rest of Africa has boomed, with many South African companies seeing the continent as a natural market for expansion. And this expansion has come in for criticism. There have been accusations and concerns of South African companies dominating the market, of sidelining local and other national players, of viewing Africa simply as a marketplace, a cash cow.

One method of combating these accusations is an effective communication campaign illustrating how the companies benefit the local markets, train and equip local staff, build capacity, provide opportunities and give consumers more choice — the normal corporate communications-speak. As this campaign develops and matures, the issues it speaks to will reflect the needs of the local population, tying the company more closely to its consumers and building a relationship of trust.

So, when a horrendous event such as an armed raid into a mall explodes, affecting hundreds of the company customers and potential customers and traumatising the staff, the communications campaign will speak to these customers, will express sympathy and concern with the staff, will offer support, will recognise that these people are more than just customers or employees, but members of a family, sisters, brothers, parents, partners. This is one way that a company builds its reputation, fosters loyalty and retains customers.

You would think that SA’s companies, given their dominance of the marketplace, their size and their resources, would have a strategy like this in place. You would think their communications people would have kicked into gear by Saturday afternoon, combating criticism that SA perceives Africa as a cash cow, building their company reputation and fostering customer loyalty. Imagine the events had unfolded in Johannesburg, or Cape Town or another South African metropolis. How fast would the headquarters of the companies reacted? What would they have said? What assistance would they have offered? Instead, it happened in Kenya. What do we find on the websites of the South African tenants of the Westgate Mall? Offers of summer specials and the latest fashions; selling, selling and selling. Nothing appears about the event. Nothing about the fact that the people are more than customers. Nothing about support that the companies will offer their traumatised staff. Nothing about building the company’s reputation.

But maybe Africa is just a cash cow … and it was a long weekend.

Freer consults for Insight Strategies and lectures in International Relations at Wits University.