South Africa constantly exists on a knife edge, just one Penny Sparrow-like Facebook post away from another wave of social media bickering.
It doesn’t help, then, when the well-known British public relations firm Bell Pottinger takes a hefty pay cheque to sow the seeds of racial division.
No prizes for guessing who is ‘allegedly’ footing the bill – everyone’s favourite upmarket shebeen operators, the Guptas.
The allegations of Bell Pottinger’s dirty deeds first came to light in a Sunday Times special last month, so we’ll rehash some of those details below:
…an aggressive strategy to portray the Guptas as victims of a conspiracy involving “white monopoly capital” caused a major rift in British PR firm Bell Pottinger – resulting in the exit of one of the company’s founders, apparently in protest…
A document circulating in government circles, and which appears to have been compiled with the assistance of former Bell Pottinger staffers, makes startling claims about the firm’s role in a social media drive that sought to turn the tables on those accusing the Guptas of “state capture”.
The PR firm “sought to divert public outcry towards the Gupta family and refocus attention upon other examples of state interference and capture, notably by ‘white monopoly capital'”, the document says. “With a heavy focus upon use of social media, a series of fake bloggers, commentators and Twitter users have been launched in an effort to manipulate public opinion .”
That contract is believed to be worth in excess of R1,5 million per month, and soon after the deal was inked those opposing Zuma and the Guptas came under attack on social media.
The document doing the rounds, titled “Bell Pottinger PR support for the Gupta family” also says that:
The company either helped set up or funded two organisations, the Decolonisation Foundation and Andile Mngxitama’s Black First, Land First, that were critical of the Treasury and “white monopoly capital”; and
The company is behind the creation of Twitter bots – automated Twitter handles that churn out tweets, hashtags and links to or tweets purporting to be by organisations, and news websites – dedicated to exposing the menace of “white monopoly capital” and its alleged influence on South Africa’s finance ministry.
“Other tactics have included the launch and support of foundations such as Black First, Land First, which, as was reported in Business Day, suddenly appeared on the scene with murky sources of funding,” says the report.
When people badmouth lawyers, the joke going that it’s the 99% who give the other 1% a bad name, remember to tell them that politics remains the dirtiest game of all.
It turns out Zuma sought a little help in the PR game too, meeting with Durban PR expert Vuyo Mkhize at his Nkandla home in December 2015:
Sources with intimate knowledge of the talks said Mkhize [below] proposed a long-term strategy that would help Zuma win back the public’s confidence in his office and would include having the president reach out to business and other stakeholders seen as being opposed to him.
He apparently feared a massive walkout by senior staff in the civil service, especially the Treasury, and wanted to use the media to win their trust back.
I guess he turfed that idea in favour of firing them all.
The story is once again front and centre as South Africans look to out those involved over at Bell Pottinger, a classic case of naming and shaming.
The Citizen are reporting on how a campaign linked to the #BlackMonday group aren’t holding back:
They have published an image of Bell Pottinger executive Victoria Geoghegan, who is considered central to the alleged PR plan…
Beth Summers, writing on an anti-corruption Facebook page, wrote over the weekend: “Bell Pottinger, the Public Relations company employed and paid by the Guptas, has always been a ‘faceless’ company in my mind. Good to put a face to one of their agents. They are the ones who have created fake Twitter accounts and also operate as agents on FBook.
Imagine the post-work blues when you’re paid to sow the seeds of racial division?
As you might expect Victoria Geoghegan has denied the allegations, and the Guptas have dismissed the reports as fake news:
“All of your allegations against Oakbay and its shareholders are just more fake news. Oakbay, its shareholders and its advisers have absolutely nothing to do with any campaign or the so-called ‘Twitter bot’ phenomenon.”
So much dirt, so little time.
How about we deal with the cancer that is the Guptas, Jacob Zuma and the rest of that camp, and then we look at speeding up the goal for large-scale economic transformation?
Both happen to be integral to the future of a democratic South Africa.
[sources:sundaytimes&citizen]
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