SA takes Bell Pottinger’s interference personally: Reactions to the PR company on Twitter

Bell Pottinger was brought in to re-frame the narrative of ‘state capture‘ by shifting focus from the president and his allies to specifically white South African captains of industry. This article described how the campaign was formulated and it touches on some of the groups involved, including the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) and the MK Veterans Association. In addition, you can read this anonymous report detailing their alleged strategy in more detail. It was shared by the South African Communist Party (SACP), one of the ANC’s own alliance partners, which gives you an idea of how deep the divisions have become within the Tripartite Alliance.

Leaked #GuptaEmails show that the Gupta family footed the bill for Bell Pottinger’s services which came to a cool GBP 100 000 a month (excluding incidental expenses such as a R5 500 000 weekend visit to Johannesburg for a strategy meeting). They also show that the president’s son, Duduzane Zuma, worked directly with them to define the narrative (see here, here and here). The end result was the resurrection and re-purposing of a concept that was little-known outside of certain ANC and communist/socialist circles during the struggle, referred to as “white monopoly capital” (WMC).

The spectre of WMC was used to define an alternative focal point in our national debate; one that takes attention away from the accusations of state capture made against our president and his allies. In this regard, the WMC narrative has been particularly effective at shifting attention away from Bell Pottinger’s (now former) clients. It has also been very successful at re-racialising the South African national discourse, informing debates at the highest political level as we saw this past week at the ANC National Policy Conference where the existence and definition of WMC were key topics of intense argument (see, for example, here, here, here, here and here).

South Africans are justifiably furious at the role that one well-paid firm has played in returning our country’s discourse to a place that we thought we had long left behind. Few deny that we need to have frank discussions about the race-based stratification of our economy and society. However, the crass way in which their campaign re-introduced the concept as a political rhetorical device to shield the allegedly corrupt has meant that it is now much more difficult for our country to navigate this complex debate with any kind of authenticity or nuance.

By converting a highly charged, complex issue into a cheap political tool, Bell Pottinger’s campaign has stolen our country’s ability to constructively address these issues and has brought our damaged society’s darkest feelings and emotions to the surface. This is why South Africans are angry. This anger has even led to Bell Pottinger being reported to its industry body, the British Public and Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), for stirring racial tension in South Africa, while OUTA has similarly announced its intention to take them to task.

I’ve been collecting tweets that mention Bell Pottinger or the Gupta-owned Oakbay account lead, Victoria Geoghegan, for about three weeks now (13 June – 5 July). In that time, I collected over 34,000 tweets. The irony of a PR agency being at the centre of such a massive PR storm is lost on few I think. Let’s see what people have to say about them:

Firstly, below are the daily volumes that I’ve collected so far. As we can see, thousands of tweets have been generated in the last few weeks which is likely what motivated them to apologise. This wasn’t just going to go away.

These tweets are being generated by a variety of communities in South Africa. The kind of sentiment and comments coming out of most communities is overwhelmingly negative with the exception of the usual Radical Economic Transformers (RET) community which introduced the topic of WMC to our discourse in the first place so no surprises there.

Certain tweets went “viral” and were popular across most of the communities, so rather than isolate the top tweets within each community, let us just look at the top ten most popular ones overall which are generally scathing of Bell Pottinger’s actions and involvement:

Dear gatvol South Africans, @BellPottinger's account is public again if you want to continue the conversation. Or tweet them at @BP_Digital

— Raymond Joseph (@rayjoe) July 1, 2017

VERY IMPORTANT re #BellPottinger. We have heard rumours regarding our actions. These are the TRUE facts. Please RT widely for awareness. pic.twitter.com/fzweSPSMCM

— OUTA (@OUTASA) June 26, 2017

So Bell Pottinger not only drafted press statements for the ANCYL, it also did so for MKMVA. Talk about taking instructions from London! https://t.co/0MQBoGJE2Z

— Phumzile Van Damme (@zilevandamme) June 18, 2017

Wikipedia founder attacks Bell Pottinger for 'ethical blindness' https://t.co/X6RQ6vqb3R

— Pierre de Vos (@pierredevos) June 24, 2017

Hey @JThomlinson from @BellPottinger, SA would love to hear from you. Open invite to The Money Show. Monday 6pm ZA time?

— Bruce Whitfield (@brucebusiness) June 24, 2017

https://twitter.com/maggsnaidu/status/877936891898863616/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.superlinear.co.za%2Fsouth-africans-take-bell-pottingers-interference-personally-reactions-to-the-pr-company-on-twitter%2F

BREAKING NEWS: We broke @BellPottinger!

We warned y'all, we did. We said " Don't fuck with us, we're South Africans".#CountryDuty pic.twitter.com/CK3PUWquLi

— Maggs Naidu (@maggsnaidu) June 22, 2017

This nice man from Bell Pottinger thought it would be a fun idea to stir up civil war in South Africa … https://t.co/NPDYdm0fnH pic.twitter.com/SjmkA8lt0G

— Rand Daily Mail (@rdm_za) July 4, 2017

A list of the Gupta disciples who were working with Bell Pottinger. ? pic.twitter.com/OikL4H9mVi

— IG: ConceptSixty5 (@Sentletse) June 14, 2017

SA, we may not be allowed to speak to @BellPottinger, but here is their Managing Director: @JThomlinson I'm sure he'd be happy to "Engage"!

— Geordin Hill-Lewis (@geordinhl) June 23, 2017

#BellPottinger guilty of inchoate offences under UK Serious Crime Act 2007 (sec 44 to 46) for their part in running #RacialDivide campaigns pic.twitter.com/anY7YswhkZ

— Trending Crimes SA (@CICArsa) April 11, 2017

@wmc_leaks: “No links with Guptas or Bell Pottinger, we only favour truth and Black Empowerment unlike #wmcpaidmedia.… https://t.co/7aDI5ol9Ym” (original URL).