Vol 34, No 2 (2015)

This article gives account of a research study that was conducted on a “beneficiary” community’s
participation in HIV/AIDS communication through a community radio station. The aim was to
understand the community’s presence and access to dialogue on HIV/AIDS, as practiced by their
community radio station. The research underpinning the article focused on a community radio
station based in Platfontein, Kimberley, in South Africa. X-K FM is a community radio station with
!Xun and Khwe people as its primary target audience. The station is the only formal communication
channel that targets these communities in their respective mother tongues. The researchers
attempted to understand civil voices’ participation in and access to the strategies of HIV/AIDS
prevention, care, support and treatment. The article is underpinned by Jürgen Habermas’s
theory of structural transformation of the public sphere. Research data was gathered using semistructured
interviews. The article concludes that the radio station has provided some avenues to
facilitate the process of beneficiary community participation in HIV/AIDS communication.

Despite a vast array of HIV/AIDS prevention communication initiatives in South Africa, recent
research pointed out that the general public’s knowledge level about HIV/AIDS has decreased
and that risky behaviour associated with the spread of the virus, is on the increase. This means
that even though some successes with HIV/AIDS prevention communication have been achieved,
new innovative ways of communicating about the epidemic urgently needs to be investigated. In
search for a new direction, this article maps four forms of HIV/AIDS prevention communication
in the country. Instead of continuing on the trajectory of exploring project-based campaigns that
are initiated ‘from the outside’ (such as projects formulated by donor institutions), this article
suggests that community-initiated HIV/AIDS prevention communication initiatives might suggest
a new direction to supplement existing communication on the epidemic.

It is widely reported in the literature that employees’ image of the organisation has a direct influence
on external stakeholders’ image of the organisation. This research attempted to address the
need for an approach that facilitates employee engagement coupled with a leadership approach
that allows collaboration, inclusion and co-operation within the organisation, to strengthen
the internal corporate image. A synthesis of the literature from a unique stakeholder-inclusive
perspective, depicted in the King III Report on corporate governance, was conducted to identify
the theoretical principles for a preliminary conceptual framework explored through a case study
approach. Parsec Technologies Pty Ltd was purposively selected as case study, because it was
the 2012 and 2013 winner in the manufacturing sector of the Deloitte Best Company to Work For
(BCTWF) survey, and served as a best practice organisation in the context of this research. Data
triangulation by means of one-on-one interviews, focus groups and an open-ended survey was
conducted with employees to determine the pragmatic relevance of the proposed framework. The
findings culminated in a new generic stakeholder-inclusive conceptual framework to strengthen
the internal corporate image by means of the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard
elements and responsible leadership. Although a single case study is limited, this framework
contributed to the body of knowledge on corporate image to provide organisations with guidelines
for strengthening their internal corporate image.

The use of social networking sites is becoming increasingly essential to communicate and
establish long-term relationships with stakeholders. In order for universities to retain their
stakeholders, the effective use of media like Facebook is evident. This study investigated the
Facebook pages of 24 South African universities by means of a content analysis, to determine
how they have structured and populated their Facebook pages with different types of content
that could be relevant to their public relations communication strategies. The theoretical basis
of the content analysis consisted of the three virtual communication strategies developed
by Waters et al. (2009), namely disclosure, information dissemination and involvement. This
study came to the general conclusion that South African universities had not yet capitalised on
Facebook to fully integrate the three virtual communication strategies in order to enhance online
stakeholder relationships.