BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – In an effort to enhance service delivery and presenting itself to Emaswati and to the world, Government has embarked on a process of re-branding itself and the country as a whole.
This transpired yesterday (Wednesday, October 30, 2024) when the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) launched the Government Corporate Identity Manual. The Government Corporate Identity Manual was launched in Ezulwini.
The Government Corporate Identity Manual is the tool through which Government, through the ICT Ministry, will re-brand itself. The re-branding will be done on products belonging to Government such as its vehicles and buildings. The country’s flag colours, the coat of arms, and other components of the country’s brand will be used in the re-branding strategy.
During the launch of the manual, Minister of Information, Communication and Technology Savannah Maziya said the re-branding was going to help Government enhance the speed at which it would deliver services to the people. She said countries that were developed also had a clear branding, which made their Governments to be clearly identified, making people to trust those Governments.
Maziya pleaded with other Government Ministries and Departments to embrace the Government Corporate Identity Manual. The Ministry’s Principal Secretary (PS) Phesheya Dube said this development would enhance the nation’s brand identity. “This is now an opportunity to re-brand ourselves. We worked on branding our nation for quite some time. We engaged South Africa’s Department of Communition, which helped us and came into the country, where it made a workshop to teach us how to brand the country,” Dube said.
He said unfortunately, what became a bottleneck was money that could be used to create the actual structure that would be a result of what they were taught by their South African counterparts. He said this initiative called for an office to be set up because it would have a responsibility of taking care of other sub brands.
Bonga Ndlangamandla, who is in charge of the e-Government Unit within the Ministry of ICT said the emailing system would help restore trust on Government from the people. He said email was good because it brought trust to the person it was sent to. He said the email was also going to bring efficiency, as people were able to work wherever they were.
Some of the key components of Government re-branding include:
Correct Use of National Symbols: There are various inconsistencies in the use of the country’s logo and flag. The Corporate Identity Manual provides the correct versions, which all government departments will follow.
New Official Email System: Previously, government officials used personal emails for official communications. Now, with the new system, communication will be streamlined, secure, and more professional.
Branding of Government Vehicles: In alignment with the rebranding effort after His Majesty King Mswati III renamed the country to Eswatini, all government vehicles will soon display department names along with the colors of the national flag.