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The Democratic Alliance in London will this afternoon be picketing outside public relations firm Bell Pottinger, after allegations emerged that the firm “sowed racial divisions in South Africa” during a campaign that involved the Gupta family, who have been tied to allegations of state capture.
This comes after the DA submitted a complaint to the firm in view of violating the Public Relations and Communications Association’s professional charter and code of conduct.
A memorandum of demands will be handed over to the firm, which includes making public “any and all communication and contracts pertaining to the work done for the Guptas”, the declaration of all funds receives for services rendered to the Guptas and ANC, and the investing of these funds in building schools or donations to non-governmental organisations.
In a Sunday Times report last weekend, former finance minister Pravin Gordhan referred to the apology which was given out by the firm for its involvement in causing major rifts within the politics in South Africa as a “pathetic cover up” and an “insult” to South Africans.Gordhan was one of the company’s main targets.
Another public figure to have spoken out against the firm was Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, when earlier this week at the SACP conference, he attributed the “lack of political cohesion” towards the ability Bell Pottinger had in influencing and manipulating the country and its thinking.
Last week the company finally took measures at trying to implement damage control by firing the lead partner on its Gupta Oakbay Capital account, Victoria Geoghegan. Through a series of leaked emails discovered by investigative units amaBhungane and Scorpio, it emerged that Geoghegan had met with President Jacob Zuma’s son Duduzane to come up with a social media campaign aimed at marketing a “narrative that grabs the attention of the grassroots population who must identify with it, connect with it and feel united by it”.
The consultation had cost £100 000 (about R2.3 million in 2016), which was invoiced by Geoghegan to Marketing Quotient, a Dubai-based company part-owned by Gupta family associate, Salim Essa.
Three other employees were suspended.
The firm released a public apology, stating: “There has been a social media campaign that highlights the issue of economic emancipation in a way that we, having now seen it, consider to be inappropriate and offensive.
“At various points throughout the tenure of the Oakbay account, senior management have been misled about what has been done. For it to be done in South Africa, a country which has become an international beacon of hope for its progress towards racial reconciliation, is a matter of profound regret and in no way reflects the values of Bell Pottinger.”
The DA’s Phumzile van Damme called on all South African expats to join in on the pickets this afternoon to protest against the damaging propaganda campaign Bell Pottinger launched in South Africa for the benefit of the Guptas and Zumas.
“For an international PR agency to sow racial divisions in a country still grappling with a very painful past, for the sole benefit of a corrupt few, is simply unethical,” Van Damme said.
