Who do we think we are? What makes us, us?

Your answers to these questions will populate the Formula of a South African.

Many corporates have used the Blueprints DNA process to map out their own DNA. It is a useful process. We are now being invited to map out the DNA of a South African. As you may be aware a number of prominent authors, Eusebius McKaiser and Dr. Ivor Chipkin amongst them, have claimed that South Africans don’t exist. So let’s prove them wrong! I invite you to read this article by Dr. Barbara Holtmann, previously of the CSIR, and participate in the survey. Steuart Pennington

In 1994 we were pretty sure; we glowed with pride, a nation characterised by joy in our diversity, by reconciliation, embracing change and capable of anything we set our minds to achieving.

In the intervening years, we've faced many challenges to that state of mind. Reality bites. The pressures of being a new democracy, the simmering tensions inherent in redistribution, many and varied expectations and the greed of some, the selfishness of others - all these things have tarnished the early shine of the new South Africa. And with the knocks have come doubts; are we the heroes we thought we were, or are we just ordinary mortals, vulnerable to battering in the winds of change?

The answer of course lies somewhere in the middle.

We tend to be very critical of ourselves and are quick to find the flaws and wallow around in our shortcomings. Not necessarily a bad thing - nobody can accuse us of being in denial about our less attractive behaviours and characteristics.

We are a nation where violence and corruption face us as headline news every day; we are appropriately fearful and that means it’s hard to trust one another. We are a nation that talks UBUNTU yet at least half of our children are hungry and we don't know what talents or skills most of them have because we have no way of finding out, let alone enabling them to live their best lives. We are a nation where an estimated 70% of people have a committed relationship with their faith based organisations, yet we have one of the world's ugliest problems of violence and abuse of women. We went through agonising times to deal with our historical racial divide yet xenophobia bubbles like a cauldron waiting to boil over in unspeakable acts of inhumanity. 48% of us don't drink alcohol, yet in some communities we have the highest rate of foetal alcohol syndrome in the world, and come second in the world on the drinking per capita drinker scale. We have world's finest Constitution yet we bribe our police and they in turn abuse their unique mandate.

And yet.... we laugh at ourselves all the time, we have transformed our Public Service, both from domination by white managers and from serving only a tiny percentage of the population. We have welcomed millions of tourists, hosted massive international conferences without a glitch, held the world's greatest party in 2010 despite the best efforts of FIFA, have world class cities and survive major fallouts. Amongst us there are so many good people doing so many good things. We remain a beacon of hope for a world confused by the need for change. We face our challenges head on and have a can-do attitude that shines through on even the darkest day. Wherever there is abuse there is an initiative to counter it. We have endless examples of people who use their own meagre resources to feed those who have less, of people who dedicate their time and energy to create new opportunities of those for whom there are no easy paths to empowerment.

The Formula of a South African aims to identify the characteristics that make us who we are; what are the things we are that we should do more of, what are the things that characterise us but we should do less of them?

Brand South Africa has asked Bluprints to develop a formula for a South African. Bluprints aims to reach over a million South Africans to elicit their views, between now and the unveiling of the Formula for a South African on Freedom Day, April 27th next year. In the first phase, some 200,000 South Africans will combine their views with existing research and the outcome of focused discussion, resulting in an approximate 20 top line and 20 bottom line characteristics. In the second phase, everyone will be asked to vote for the most important top line characteristic and most important bottom line characteristic.

The results will be analysed and the Formula will be translated using artworks (symbols) that will become the icons that symbolise who we are.

The value of the Formula is both in the process of discovering the Formula and in the Formula itself. The process offers us an opportunity for introspection and mindfulness - it asks us not only who we are but also who we might be. It reminds us that we have choice and that in exercising it we define our present and future, that we can recommit ourselves to a better outcome, be nicer, kinder, more respectful of one another, gentler, we can be the peace and prosperity for which we yearn.

In the Formula itself will be our hopes and dreams as well as our realities. When we know what our best self looks like, it will surely be a bit easier to look up and aim to be it.

South Africa has the potential for greatness, leadership and happiness. Formula SA offers a glimpse of how as South Africans we can make that happen.

Visit www.formulasa.co.za to make your mark. Please help us spread this news!

Sir,

Eusebius McKaiser (March 12) tells us "There are no South Africans. And that’s OK" as he reflects on a roundtable debate hosted by the Helen Suzman Foundation on the possibility of a South African identity. He then exercises intellectual persiflage as he explores this topic. This has been done before by Dr. Ivor Chipkin in a book devoted to the subject, which incidentally, arrived at the same conclusion. One would think that the Helen Suzman Foundation has better things to do with its donor funds than run intellectually obscure workshops.

McKaiser argues that "the idea of a South African essence strikes me as both incoherent and dangerous. We soon judge others as more or less South African depending on how close our stipulated prototype of a true South African we deem them to be". I don’t think the construct of a "stipulated prototype" is what South Africaness or any other countryness is about.

One’s mind boggles at the notion of the "stipulated prototype" of other nations. Is the American "stipulated prototype" an obese, ice-cream devouring TV addict or a soldier defending Western liberty in Iraq? Is the English "stipulated prototype" an incoherent soccer hooligan with vomit smelling breath or an Oxford accented BBC correspondent with indecipherable humour? Is the Nigerian "stipulated prototype" a menacing drug dealer or an entrepreneur overcoming the challenges of infrastructural collapse?

In my view the notion of national identity does not infer some sort of commonality or stipulated prototype, it has more to do with patriotism, a sense of belonging and a sense of pride. The fact that we are culturally diverse; that we have different histories; that we have a tortured past in which we played different roles; that we emerged in 1994 from a peaceful transition; that we view our current challenges from different perspectives; does not mean that we are not South African, on the contrary, it is integral to our South African essence. There are no common or stipulated prototypes – thank goodness! If an individual identifies proudly with his/her country’s national flag, sits on the edge of his/her seat as they watch their national team perform in the sport they love, defends his/her country from hostile verbal attack (as most of us do), and feels that their country is "in their blood" then surely they have the right to claim "I am a South African".

And, as citizens we identify strongly with our social challenges, between the corporate sector (R5 billion) and ordinary individuals (R12 billion) we give R17 billion per annum to social causes. We care about our people and our country……that too is what makes us South African. Eusebius McKaiser would do well to remember Mark Twain’s words, "Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time, and your government only when it deserves it". If he thinks there are no South Africans, and uses Helen Suzman's name to promote this, that is incoherent and unfortunate.

Steuart Pennington

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