Beneficiary of the Solidarity Fund entangled in ANC factional battles
WHILE South Africans may be grateful for the establishment of the Solidarity Fund for the fight against Covid-19, the existence of a more digressional purpose has come to the fore as it also benefits a marketing company that is entangled in a social media battle against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s detractors.
Former president Jacob Zuma and his supporters have become the prime target of a smear campaign driven by the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC), which has benefited from the Solidarity Fund.
The CABC, a Section 18a non-profit organisation (NGO), formed in 2017 and incubated at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, received a budget allocation of R1.5 million for providing research and analytics services for the Solidarity Fund for a five-month period “of the vaccine demand creation campaign”.
A CABC spokesperson, who preferred not to be named, said the CABC was a non-partisan, independent NGO working on analysing and countering divisive narratives online. He avoided responding to questions, but instead attacked Independent Media, accusing it of seeking to write a biased story.
“We cannot, in good conscience, participate in nefarious reporting unless we can be assured of compliance with the press code and independent adjudication of disputes through credible organisations such as the Press Council,” the spokesperson said.
Solidarity Fund’s spokesperson Didi Masoetsa said the CABC was working together with a giant advertising and marketing agency, Joe Public United, in providing services for the fund.
“The budget is specifically directed towards almost real-time research and analytics that is used for demand-creation communication that is relevant and up to date at all times, and that all stakeholders can make use of.
“This is to ensure that the correct message reaches the correct people to mitigate vaccine inertia while driving positive vaccine sentiment,” Masoetsa said about the money spent on the CABC.
The CABC, however, has gone allout to target ANC leaders and members who are associated with the radical economic transformation (RET) faction. Operating under the guise of the South Africa Vaccine Project, the CABC is seemingly using cyberbullying tactics against detractors of Ramaphosa and white monopoly capital.
On its website, it is clear that part of the CABC’S function is to fight against
RET. Following the riots in Kwazulu-natal and Gauteng, the CABC engaged in a witch-hunt against Twitter users it branded as “The Dirty Dozen”.
The CABC’S smear campaign is clear in its document entitled, “The Dirty Dozen & The Amplification of Incendiary Content During the Outbreak of Unrest in South Africa July 2021”. It identified 12 Twitter accounts, which it accused of being central to the unrest.
In another document entitled, “Democracy 2021 Project – Online RET Network Analysis”, the CABC linked those it accused of being behind the riots to suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, MKMVA spokesperson Carl Niehaus and Zuma.
The CABC said some social media users had accounts whose activities were in line “with the goals of a faction that is known within the ANC as RET Forces. At the CABC we are mandated to research, report on and intervene into narratives containing mis- and disinformation where it negatively impacts social cohesion. Thus, we are obligated to publish this report that unpacks the use of deliberate tactics by a network of inauthentic accounts to manipulate the online conversation,” read the report.
Among those who had been targeted by the CABC is Sphithiphithi Evaluator, who is known for expressing views that are in favour of the RET faction and against white monopoly capital. Sphithiphithi Evaluator was among several other social media commentators who were arrested in connection with the unrest, while others were harassed.
Kwazulu-natal-based RET activists supporter Nkosentsha Shezi also claimed to be a target of the CABC’S “malicious” campaign because of his opinion on Twitter. He described the CABC’S conduct as an infringement of freedom of speech, which undermined his right in society as he was entitled to make his opinion known.
Shezi questioned the methodology applied by the CABC in conducting its research and also accused it of taking part in ANC factional battles. “In fact, they are defending a side of the white monopoly capital, and I suspect (they) are the ones who are misleading the president.”
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Gauteng spokesperson Phindile Mjonondwane said seven alleged instigators in Gauteng were being prosecuted. She said the NPA was an apolitical organisation and was not influenced by politics in prosecuting the accused.
She said the NPA would be guided by the investigation process. “We cannot say that they will be sentenced or not, but we know they have a case to answer.”