To find FormulaSA they have enlisted the help of Bluprints, a company that specialises in discovering the DNA of organisations. More than 65,000 South Africans have already shared their opinions via an online campaign on what citizens need to do more of, and less of, to succeed. A further 11,400 responded to a campaign by the Department of Arts and Culture – South African at Heart – what values the nation should subscribe to.
FormulaSA seeks to understand what individuals need to do to make the country a better place for all to live in and thus far they have found four phases to the formula: intuitive opinions; elections; art production and scoring.
Phase one has just been completed. Under this intuitive opinions phase, South Africans identified 21 top line (do more of) and 19 bottom line (do less of) characteristics. The top line included virtues such as accountability, mutual respect, innovation, environmental responsibility, as well as pride and passion.
In the bottom line were crime, laziness, racism, poor communication and resistance to change.
The second phase, the election process, involves narrowing down the characterists.
Members of the public can vote online at www.formulasa.co.za or www.facebook.com/FormulaSouthAfrica or via their mobile phones at wap.formulasa.co.za.
Another one million people will be able to vote via SMS, in response to a system-generated message that will be sent to them. This group has been selected on the basis of age, race, gender and geography by virtual prepaid token distribution company Bluelabel Telecoms.
The final formula, which will be determined by the election results, will be expressed in an array of art forms reflecting the cultural diversity of the SA nation.
The process is a civil society initiative and the objective is to carry out the survey every year, irrespective of the government of the day. It is not about what government does but rather about what citizens do to ensure they live in a society they want.
