THE DIPLOMAT S.A. IS POSITIONED AS A NICHE PUBLICATION FOR A VERY SPECIAL AUDIENCE SOUTHERN AFRICA S DIPLOMATIC COMMUNITY. South Africa has a large foreign diplomatic community with over 270 points of representation (including Embassies, Consulates, International Organisations and so on). At any one time, around one third of the diplomatic community has recently arrived and needs up-to-date information on where to live, shop, eat, relax, buy cars and educate their children. Foreign diplomats in South Africa also face a number of challenging aspects related to their work - in terms of getting official information to the South African media, lack of access and understanding by South African officials and a plethora of other challenges. The diplomatic community in South Africa is a powerful economic force as well as politically influential. Official spending by foreign government (including Embassies and International Organisations, but excluding private sector direct investment) in South Africa was approximately R18bn in fiscal 2009 (End Feb 2010). Ambassadors and their senior colleagues are often crucial in influencing these key spending decisions by their national governments and companies. These same key decision makers are the readers of The Diplomat S.A. Magazine. The establishment of The Diplomat S.A. Magazine was borne out of a need to provide the South African diplomatic community with informed news and articles to help make their work more effective and make living in South Africa more enjoyable.
A word from Ambassador Billy Modise IT IS NO WONDER THAT ABOUT 130 COUNTRIES HAVE EMBASSIES OR HIGH COMMISSIONS IN TSWANE, AS WELL AS SEVERAL INTERNATIONAL MULTILATERAL ORGANISATIONS. INCLUDING CONSULATES IN OTHER CITIES, SOUTH AFRICA IS HOSTING WELL OVER 8000 FOREIGN DIPLOMATS AND THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS. In many ways, South Africa has become a point of great interest to many countries, organisations and people. The world is keen to see how this country is transforming itself from apartheid and injustice to a just and democratic order, to a land of equal opportunity and nonracism. These are, and should be, honoured guests of not only the government but also the people of South Africa. As hosts, it behoves each South African to receive these foreign diplomats with open arms, to assist them in their daily needs and to facilitate their work. It is therefore of the utmost importance to have very good communication between foreign diplomats and the South African government, people, businesses, and institutions. Foreign diplomats need to know our politics, culture, economy and our natural landscape. In turn, we need to know and understand more about the home countries of these diplomats. South Africans also have over 90 embassies / High Commissions all over the world. Many of us do not know much about this life, work and stay of our diplomats abroad. The sterling work done by our diplomats is rarely reported in the media. Though South Africa has abundant television, radio and press media, we do not have enough publications targeting foreign diplomats and their work, or South African diplomats and their work in foreign countries. The arrival of this new publication, The Diplomat South Africa, is welcome. It will go a long way to filling a void and providing a medium and platform to enlighten us about the work and activities of foreign diplomats and our own diplomats abroad. Ambassador Billy Modise Former Chief of State Protocol The Dean Welcomes The Diplomat SA IN SOUTH AFRICA, THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF DIPLOMATS, WITH THEIR DEPENDENTS, REPRESENTING THEIR COUNTRIES, CULTURES AND GOVERNMENTS. MOST OF THEM ARE IN THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE FIRST TIME AND NEW ONES ARRIVES DAILY TO REPLACE THOSE WHOSE TERMS OF DUTY HAVE COME TO AN END. WE HAVE A BIG NUMBER OF QUALIFIED COLOURFUL INDIVIDUALS IN THIS COUNTRY, MANY HAVE BEEN MINISTERS AND HIGH RANKING OFFICIALS IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES. They are of all ages and languages, often dressed in their national costumes, living among South Africans especially in Tswane. They share with the local communities the city dwellings, roads, streets, schools, clinics, stores, restaurants, fairs, cinemas, parks and stadia, conferences, government offices, business and everything else where they interact with thousands of South Africans. The issuing of visas, visits by delegations, cultural activities, educational, exchange, political coordination, economic cooperation, trade, and investment are among the basic duties of a diplomatic mission headed by an ambassador representing his head of state and country, assisted by a team of specialised diplomats in the different fields. They number over eight thousand at any given point, and spend about more than R8 million a day, contributing approximately R2.5 billion a year to the South African economy through foreign currencies bought and earned from their countries. With this in mind, South Africans need to have as much information as possible on the nature, the scope and details of the missions of those diplomats, their duties, expectations, privileges, legal status, like the South African counterparts enjoy in their respective countries all over the world, in order to make their temporary stay a pleasant one and their work to promote cooperation between South Africa and the rest of the world a success. This is part of the objective set out in The Diplomat South Africa and can facilitate interaction among the diplomatic community, the South African community, the government, and business sectors. It is a welcome development for South Africa and diplomats alike. Welcome The Diplomat South Africa. Dr. Abdalia Alzubedi Libyan Ambassador to South Africa and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.
EDITORIAL PROFILE The establishment of The Diplomat (South Africa) Magazine, was borne out of a need to provide the South African diplomatic community with informed news and articles to help make their work more effective and make living in South Africa more enjoyable. As such, The Diplomat SA publishes three categories of Editorial Content: 1. POLITICAL AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS ISSUES including news, insights into issues of foreign affairs and opinions by Foreign Diplomats. 2. BASIC INDUSTRY EVENTS INFORMATION including arrival interviews, diplomatic calendar and information on all recent arrivals and departures. 3. LIFE STYLE AND LEISURE including culture, travel and shopping. The Diplomat SA offers viewpoints on South Africa s foreign affairs, stories relating to the diplomats in South Africa and political figures combined with columns about wine, food, travel and sport. READERSHIP PROFILE The primary readership of The Diplomat S.A. Magazine is the foreign diplomatic community resident in South Africa. This community consists of ambassadors, high commissioners, senior envoys, middle ranking diplomats, specialist (i.e.. education, military) attachés and other diplomats, as well as their families. DISTRIBUTION & CIRCULATION With over 270 points of representation, The Diplomat S.A. Magazine has a primary and a secondary readership market of just over 9 133 readers. The primary readership consists of senior staff and their spouses only and the secondary readership consists of South African representation abroad and a small number of local polity. This is what newly arrived diplomats and their spouses in South Africa would say are the most difficult facets of life: Meeting new South African friends. Getting information about finding accommodation (+-10% of the embassy staff would like to purchase homes for the 3-4 years they serve their respective embassies within S.A.). Getting my children into school. Getting information about banking and finance (The typical products required are cheque accounts and credit cards). Getting information about buying cars (Embassy staff would like to have personal transportation). At anytime, around one third of the diplomatic community has recently arrived and needs up-to-date information on where to live, shop, eat, relax and educate their kids. This is what foreign diplomats in South Africa would say are the most difficult aspects of their work: Lack understanding of the work of foreign diplomats by South African officials Lack understanding of the processes in South Africa. Getting official information. Ignorance of home country by the media, public and officials. Contacting South African officials of departments and officials of other embassies. Organising events, seminars and so on. The concept of a magazine targeting the foreign diplomatic community in a host country is not new. Research indicates the several countries have successfully launched publications, including Canada (est. 1989), UK (est. 1950), Russia (est. 1995), US (est. 2000), France and Australia (est. 1990). With the exception of the Australian magazine, which focuses purely on the political issues, all others also focus on general diplomatic information and lifestyle information.
PRIMARY READERSHIP: 5500+ FOREIGN REPRESENTATION IN SOUTH AFRICA TOTAL READERS Embassies/High Commissions 112 2700 Consulates/Consulate-General 54 972 Honorary Consul/Honorary Consular Agency 73 1314 Other (i.e. Liaison Office) 2 18 Non-Resident Accreditation 12 216 International Organisation 20 279 SECONDARY READERSHIP: 3500+ SOUTH AFRICAN REPRESENTATION ABROAD TOTAL READERS Embassies/High Commissions 83 1560 Consulate/Consulate-General 16 288 Honorary Consul/Honorary Consular Agency 46 460 Other (i.e. Liaison Office) 4 20 Non-Resident Accreditation 106 1060 International Organisation 7 78 SOUTH AFRICAN READERS TOTAL READERS National Government Departments 5 68 Single Copies 100 100 TOTAL COPIES CIRCULATED EVERY 2ND MONTH 9133 Diplomats posted to South Africa are by definition senior members of the International diplomatic community, so they cannot expect to have their hands held while they settle in. In short order they have to find a home, a car and school places for their kids all while picking up the reins of their new jobs. The headaches they face are not very different from foreigners arriving in a new Capital City! Facets of normal life and core structure of diplomatic work is little different anywhere in the world, although the ease of carrying out these duties can vary from country to country (London Diplomat: Survey on the UK diplomatic community - October 2001) SOURCE: Department of Foreign Affairs - Foreign Representative in South Africa ADVERTISING RATES (All rates exclude VAT and agency fee) SINGLE INSERTION 3 ISSUE COMMITMENT Full Page R7,395.00 R6,152.00 per insertion Double Page Spread R13,112.00 R11,124.00 per insertion Half Page (Vertical or Horizontal) R4,350.00 R3,542.00 per insertion Quarter Page (Block or Strip) R2,174.00 R1,801.00 per insertion COVER PLACEMENTS Inner Front Cover Double Page Spread R15,599.00 R13,051.00 per insertion Inner Back Cover Full Page R7,697.00 R6,597.00 per insertion Outer Back Cover Full Page R11,870.00 R10,254.00 per insertion INDEX / REFERENCE PLACEMENT Business Card Advert [Eight Per Page] R960 R735 per insertion SIZE SPECIFICATIONS SPACE BOOKED Full Page 210 x 275 Double Page Spread 420 x 275 Half Page Horizontal 210 x 138 Half Page Vertical 105 x 275 Please try to use a minimum of a 10mm margin around your artwork, especially the text boxes. If your design dictates that items be cropped off the page edge, please inform us. TRIM SIZE (Wide x High (mm), please provide a minimum 3mm bleed)