Pressure on Bell Pottinger mounts
Parties join moves to censure UK public relations firm
The pressure on Gupta-linked public relations firm Bell Pottinger mounted on Tuesday, as three South African nongovernmental organisations wrote to the company, requesting information on the work done for the family, while a UK regulatory body is set to proceed with disciplinary action on August 18.
The pressure on Gupta-linked public relations firm Bell Pottinger mounted on Tuesday, as three South African nongovernmental organisations wrote to the British company, requesting information on the work done for the family.
In addition, a UK regulatory body is set to proceed with disciplinary action against the firm.
Bell Pottinger CE James Henderson has apologised for the harm its work for the family had done, stirring racial division in SA. Political parties including the ANC, have rejected the firm’s apology and called on it to be more transparent and open about its brief from the Guptas.
Civil society entered the fray on Tuesday, saying it was preparing to make submissions against Bell Pottinger in the disciplinary hearing by UK regulatory bodies.
Despite disclosures that the firm had designed a narrative around white monopoly capital to deflect attention from the state capture allegations against the Guptas, the line has stuck and was a bone of contention at the ANC’s policy conference earlier in July. President Jacob Zuma, who is friends with the Guptas and whose son is in business with them, has insisted white monopoly capital is a reality.
Bell Pottinger axed a senior partner, suspended another partner along with two employees and has commissioned law firm Herbert Smith Freehills to conduct an independent probe into the Gupta account.
DA spokeswoman Phumzile van Damme said on Tuesday the Public Relations and Communications Association, a UK-based industry regulator, would proceed on August 18 with the disciplinary hearing into Bell Pottinger’s conduct. The party and the firm are expected to submit summaries of their cases within 10 working days.
The Helen Suzman Foundation, Section 27 and SaveSA said they too would make a submission to the association and to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, which is reportedly conducting its own probe.
Through attorneys, the three organisations wrote to Bell Pottinger, requesting the terms of reference for the probe by Herbert Smith Freehills.
They want “access to all underlying information and documentation on which any investigations” are based and all other information and documentation that Bell Pottinger has in its possession in relation to the matter. The three organisations also want access to reports on the investigation by Herbert Smith Freehills.