Disinformation nation: Weaponising words and communication

“Smear campaigns and character assassins have often attempted to shape the South African narrative through disinformation,” said investigative journalist and author Caryn Dolley, who delivered a Summer School lecture at the University of Cape Town (UCT) at the end of January.

Titled, “Disinformation nation: How smear campaigns and character assassins can shape a country”, Dolley used examples such as the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and Crime Intelligence as hot beds in an attempt to capture the state.

“Misinformation is inaccurate information and is not necessarily intentional. Disinformation, on the other hand, is intentionally warped malicious information. Words and communication become weaponised and that’s why it becomes dangerous. South Africa’s history is steeped in disinformation,” Dolley began.

“For me, SARS is the poster child for state capture in South Africa. What happened there was gross and disgusting. Disinformation gutted SARS. People’s lives were destroyed in ways we will never know. Crime Intelligence was hollowed out, so too the South African Police Service (SAPS), and the impact of that is that criminals walked free because of greed-ridden sabotage.

“The worst thing is that most of the sabotage was coming from and manufactured through the state. So, it becomes very difficult for us to see what is truth and what is not, making the job of an investigative journalist difficult.”

She added: “When the Sunday Times ran a story about SARS bugging former president Jacob Zuma and accused the so-called rogue unit of running a brothel, it was a classic case of intentionally planted stories meant to implode SARS. What we were left with is so-called whistleblowers being the actual crooks and are just covering their tracks.”

It was not lost on Dolley, that while she was presenting a previous Summer School lecture on organised crime on 24 January 2025, the offices of City of Cape Town officials JP Smith and Xanthea Limberg were being raided by police.

Closed loop system

“He [Smith] says there’s a political hit squad crafted to smear his character, and either way you look at it, the one scenario is that yes, he is the target of what he alleges, and the other scenario is that he’s lying. Neither scenario is good. This is deeply concerning for us because we are in a province [Western Cape] where gang violence is the worst in the country – and where are police now focused? On politicians,” Dolley continued.

Much like organised crime, disinformation is a well-coordinated, widespread network of people which often include members of police. An example, Dolley shared, is of then State Security contract agent George Darmanovic.

“He used a combination of real and fake information, which makes what one is saying more plausible.”

“There is a wide network of cops, agents and journalists involved. He used a combination of real and fake information, which makes what he is saying more plausible. And then there is the closed-loop system, which is basically feeding someone a lie with the knowledge that as a journalist, you will fact-check with the person(s) involved; however, he’s already informed everyone in the web of lies that they need to corroborate what he said.”

1994 assassination plot

Another classic example is contained in her latest book, Man Alone, “the story of how apartheid-era policing structures lay the foundations for cop–gangster collusion and how these have endured into democracy”. It also chronicles Andre Lincoln’s odyssey from anti-apartheid intelligence operative to a key figure in South Africa’s police force [and] reveals the intricate ties between law enforcement and organised crime.”

“The Presidential Investigative Task Unit [PITU] took over a stagnant investigation in 1996 about an alleged plot to assassinate former president Nelson Mandela at his 1994 inauguration. Lincoln insists the plot was legitimate and said a sniper rifle was found in a senior police officer’s desk at head office.

“General George Fivaz, who was appointed by Mandela as the first national commissioner of the new SAPS, rubbished this information. And what we have here is a case where it’s up to you, as the citizen, to choose what you believe. Therein lies the problem with smear campaigns. But if what Lincoln says is true, then it means Mandela’s would-be killers could still be living among us.

“Finally, South Africans know very well that disinformation discriminates. It ravages lives. It derails careers and sparks violence. Disinformation often becomes apparent in retrospect, once the damage is done.”