Brand South Africa Blog

A professor from Purdue University in the US blogs on a visit to SA. He concludes: “Dynamic, exciting, good people doing interesting things. It’s not “out of the way”, it’s right in the middle and has been since Mandela and Tutu emerged on the world scene”.

“Humanity,” wrote the Roman public intellectual Seneca in the first century, “is the quality which stops one being arrogant towards one’s fellows, or being acrimonious. In words, in actions, in emotions she reveals herself as kind and good natured towards all. To her the troubles of anyone else are her own, and anything that benefits herself she welcomes primarily because it will be of benefit to someone else.” In the unlikely event you are asked to translate ubuntu into Latin, Seneca’s word humanitas would seem to work very well.

BSA Blog, as a newcomer, has yet to draw the attention of the trolls, at home and abroad, who make it their business to rain venemously on SA’s parade. They’re a vigilant bunch and they seem to have a lot of time on their hands. Say something good about the country on the most obscure website imaginable, and if the site has a comment box, someone will use it to vent about how, actually, we’re all going to hell in a hand basket. Emma Jordan examines the phenomenon.

South African Breweries, aka SAB Miller, is one of the world’s great brewing companies. It prides itself, justly, on being a good corporate citizen. This is from the cover of its latest report on what it’s doing to make the world a better, cleaner, healthier place. With beer. These guys are not ashamed of their product.