From Egypt to South Africa, fake accounts, bots and generative AI are manipulating African politics. And 2024 is a record year for elections
The cautionary tale of Bell Pottinger reminds us of the role of journalism in a democracy and why we owe it to ourselves to be more responsible about the media we consume
Falsehoods spread through media and politicians serve to polarise, destabilise and depoliticise
Our history has shown that the exercise of democratic reason can shake power from below
The Brazzaville Foundation, which has been accused of laundering the reputation of one of Africa’s most corrupt presidents
Voters need to be well-informed and some arrangement must be made to end to the lies and misinformation
‘The shift to tyranny in SA has been accompanied by political arguments about the nature of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy’
‘In South Africa, we already have one example of how concerted civil society action can foil the digital dark arts’
What stood out at the Johannesburg launch of Jacques Pauw’s ‘The President’s Keepers’ was how incredibly white the audience at the book launch was.
Only mass civil action will hound this rogues’ gallery of corporate crooks out of town
The denouncing of KPMG and Bell Pottinger by South African citizens is a good trend and bodes well for the country says Mcebisi Jonas.
"Beyond its reputation problems, finding a new owner or funder will be considerably complicated"
The damage done by state capture does not blind us to the fact that the democratic project belongs to all citizens
The good news is that South Africans have chosen to go forwards – that choice is evident in the rejection of state capture from all quarters.
Save SA also said they were "particularly offended" by Bell Pottinger’s alleged work for the ANC Youth League and MK Military Veterans’ Association.
The findings of a review by international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills were published on Monday afternoon.
The inclination to further entrench the reach of the private sector to plug the gaps left by the government will be our doom
"South Africa is now infected by a fake public relations exercise laced with a dollop of unadulterated racism."
"Bell Pottinger did not invent our racial mess. It worked out an unethical propaganda campaign that takes advantage of it"
The organisation said this after allegations surfaced in an amaBhungane Gupta email leaks report.
Bell Pottinger announced three months ago that it had decided to cease work for Oakbay Capital after working for them for a year.
The British PR company has lost two major South African clients because of their concerns about its contract with Oakbay.