Vol 44, No 3 (2025)

The survival of organisations depends greatly on internal communication, but this function faces seemingly incompatible challenges, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Relatively little has been published on internal communication challenges in emerging economies and specifically in South Africa, with no research on these issues after the pandemic. To fill this gap, this qualitative longitudinal study inductively identifies internal communication challenges in the South African corporate context after the pandemic. Semi-structured interviews with internal communication practitioners at the Top 500 Companies in South Africa and highly recognised internal communication consultants provide the data. From data collected pre-pandemic, 12 challenges that internal communication functions must deal with were identified, which they grouped into four categories: access to technology, lack of formal communication training, parameters for inclusion of internal stakeholders, and management styles and structures. The longitudinal findings of this study show that many of these challenges are still relevant and even worsened, but new themes on internal communication issues emerged after the pandemic, with a specific focus on employee well-being, little credible information, digital imbalance, and future work structure issues. Suggestions are made on how to mitigate these challenges. Contributions include recommendations for practice and further research.

This article reviews changes in communications at the South African Reserve Bank since the adoption of inflation targeting in February 2000. In particular, it examines the shift towards evolving methods of communication by the South African Reserve Bank through the use of new technologies and approaches intended to increase accountability and transparency. The analysis extensively evaluates the South African Reserve Bank’s communication tools and how they affect the effectiveness of monetary policy implementation in the South African context. Notably, this study employs the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level metric to assess the effect of communication readability on domestic inflation expectations. By using readability scores as a proxy for clarity, the research measures the impact that central bank communication standards have on market agents’ inflation expectations and their interpretation of monetary policy. The findings reveal that the South African Reserve Bank’s communication clarity has a significant inverse relationship with South African market participants’ long-run inflation expectations, highlighting the vital role of clear central bank communication in anchoring inflation expectations.

This article investigates the effectiveness of domestic media in mobilising rural citizens towards national identity registration in Nigeria's southwest region, based on Yoruba-language media. Rural involvement has been low, despite the government’s efforts to increase enrolment. A culturally responsive survey was administered to 960 rural participants to measure their involvement with 10 of the most significant indigenous media outlets. Radio broadcasts, banners and interpersonal messages were the most effective ways to communicate the message, with religious and community leaders playing a central role in mobilising citizens. However, these efforts were hindered by systemic challenges such as insufficient registration centres, inconsistent service availability, misinformation and the corrupt monetisation of ostensibly free services. Discussion transcript analysis uncovered ethical concerns in media content, including fear-based tactics, panic-inducing messaging and false information. Contrary to common assumptions, rural citizens did not always fully comprehend their indigenous language, as questionnaire responses revealed discrepancies in understanding, reading and speaking. Expanding grassroots infrastructure, employing culturally appropriate media outlets and developing more partnerships with community leaders to establish credibility are critical to complementing the media in raising enrolment. These findings have the potential to overcome system barriers and incorporate cultural sensitivity into national identity programme planning and execution.

Although scholars and practitioners increasingly recognise the strategic importance of public relations in the private and public sector, many government ministries have poor public relations, which affects service delivery. This is coupled with limited scholarship on public relations in developing countries, including sub-Saharan Africa. This article draws on a case study of government ministries in Lesotho to establish how public relations is practised, contested and can be repurposed in the African context. To collect data, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed to solicit views from 20 public relations officers working in 10 government ministries in Lesotho. Data were analysed through an inductive thematic analysis. The findings suggest that public relations professionals face many challenges in executing their duties. These include a lack of communication; a lack of resources; misunderstanding (specifically from management) as to what public relations entails; bureaucracy, political influence and manipulation of information released to the public; information presented in one language only; and the absence of a public relations cadre. Collectively, these challenges suggest limited awareness of the full scope of public relations and a predominance of routine technician tasks over strategic advisory roles. The proposed directives for improvement present an opportunity for public relations practitioners working in government ministries to strategise their work.

Maternal mortality is a critical public health challenge that significantly impacts the lives of millions of women globally, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 70% of global maternal deaths. Like many other sub-Saharan African countries, Tanzania continues to experience high maternal mortality rates, particularly among women of reproductive age in rural areas. Guided by the Community for Development Theory and the Health Belief Model, this study examines the potential of community radio as a community-based medium that can contribute to efforts aimed at reducing maternal mortality among rural women in Tanzania. A qualitative approach was employed, collecting data through in-depth interviews from a sample of 48 women involved in the focus group discussion from three Tanzanian districts (Bunda, Maswa and Uvinza), as well as from 22 community radio staff, including managers, editors and producers from Uvinza FM, Mazinga FM and Sibuka FM. The findings indicate that although community radio stations have undertaken several initiatives to combat maternal mortality, such as formulating radio policies to address community issues, conducting awareness campaigns on maternal health and incorporating maternal health topics into their programming, women’s access to radio programmes and engagement in these efforts remain low. Their limited access and participation are attributed to factors such as media illiteracy, financial challenges, household responsibilities and entrenched patriarchal norms in rural areas. This article suggests enhancing rural women’s access to and participation in community radio dialogues on maternal health issues as essential to improving maternal health outcomes.

Social media platforms have emerged as dynamic spaces for expressing diverse voices and negotiating identities. Among these platforms, X (formerly Twitter) stands out as a powerful medium where users engage in real-time conversations, shape narratives and participate in discussions on various topics. In the South African context, X has become a significant arena for public discourse, reflecting the complexities of a nation marked by cultural diversity and a history of social stratification. This article examines South African Black Twitter, a distinctive digital subculture that has gained prominence in shaping public opinion and influencing societal conversations. The focus is on critically analysing ethnic stereotypes within this digital space, specifically examining how Zulu, Venda and Pedi ethnicities are represented and stereotyped. While South Africa’s multicultural landscape is celebrated for its diversity, it is not immune to the perpetuation of stereotypes, some of which are expressed on social media platforms such as X. By analysing a series of tweets, memes and graphics interchange formats collected through virtual ethnography, the study elucidates how the understanding and representation of these three ethnic groups in South Africa are embedded with stereotypes.

Reality television has challenged our understanding of modern life since its rapid rise in the early 2000s. Reality wedding shows, in particular, claim to portray the authentic expression of love shared by the participants. Research within this genre of reality television has mainly focused on audience reception as well as engagement with the content. However, the steady proliferation of reality wedding shows in Africa has gone largely uncritically celebrated as a sign of romantic love on the continent. Through a multimodal critical discourse analysis of episodes from the South African, Kenyan and Nigerian wedding show Our Perfect Wedding, we argue that the production choices of wedding reality shows are not value free but represent a profit logic co-opting of love by consumerist capitalism in order to perpetuate its existence even within non-Western contexts. We borrow from the concepts of conspicuous consumption and utopia to argue that audiences of reality television wedding shows in Africa are invited to consume displays of opulent consumption under the guise of celebrating utopian love.