SA Politics Thread Part 10 : The GNU Has Crashed

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TheChamp said:
It is literally the duty of any patriot to defend their country from such undesirable people, you might not feel strongly about it but it is a very big deal for some of us, this is our land and we shall protect it with the jealousy and viciousness required against any lowlife who would tarnish our name for their selfish benefit.

We will never be ashamed or apologetic about that.
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You're sounding more and more like Malema and his ilk.
 
Twitterbaas was one thing, now they've gone and doxxed @Sideshow Bob...

  • News24 has traced the head of a network spreading disinformation in South Africa, India, Wales, and the US.
  • The network gained traction locally with a viral - and entirely false - story about a Cape Town congestion tax.
  • By following a trail of digital breadcrumbs, News24 identified the man behind the network as Raju “Raj” Singh, a marketer based in northern India with at least nine dubious websites to his name.
In May 2025, a tip-off was received by News24’s Disinformation Desk. It linked to a news article - unusually detailed and locally specific - that claimed the City of Cape Town was about to implement a congestion tax on motorists entering the city centre.

The story quickly gained traction, prompting an official debunk by the City. But an initial News24 investigation revealed it was not a one-off hoax. Rather, it is part of a larger, coordinated network of fake news websites, styled to resemble local news outlets, running hundreds of stories targeting South Africa.

Topics were varied and published in large quantities, with dozens of entirely fabricated stories about universal basic income grants, the draft National Health Bill, fuel price hikes, and new recycling laws. Some were too transparently false to gain traction. However, as the congestion tax story demonstrated, all it took was one to leave the context of the website and go viral on Facebook and WhatsApp.

From fake journalist to real man in the foothills of the Himalayas​

The articles on these sites carried the byline “Raju Singh”, described in his bio as an “experienced journalist” with “more than 10 years of reporting on South African news”, and a tiny, almost indecipherable profile picture. Both proved crucial to uncovering the owner’s identity.


The bio, like the articles, was fake. There is no such journalist operating in South Africa. But buried in the sites’ code and content were the clues that eventually revealed the identity and location of its owner, in an office several thousand kilometres from South Africa.


The first clues were down to laziness and naivety. At least two sites spreading disinformation in South Africa used the same generic WordPress theme, the same fake author, and were registered with the same German domain provider.

The biggest mistake, however, was ego. Although the websites were all fictitious, the creator of this network inserted a version of his real name into each of them - as the made-up persona of a fake South African journalist, Raju Singh.


Still, Raju Singh is a common name across India, and a general Google search revealed several million returns. At best, with local qualifiers, it led us to more of his fake news websites, but nothing that showed who he really is. Fortunately, however, he left other clues to follow up on.

Extracting a Google Analytics (GA) tracking code from one of his fake news websites revealed that it was part of a much larger network. And while a GA code does not collect personal information, if multiple sites use the same one, it is a strong indicator they are operated by the same person.
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MalcomZ said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1933065055953719614
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This comes after Fourie questioned Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA) employment figures.

He has argued that the country’s unemployment data excludes those employed in the informal sector.

Fourie also says that if the individuals were to be added, then the unemployment rate would be close to 10%.

Maluleke says Stats SA’s data is beyond reproach.

He says, “About three weeks ago, I released the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). We have reported on the informal sector and I said the number of people in the informal sector are 3.3 million and they account for about 19.9% of all people employed in South Africa.”
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Capitec's CEO is correct.
Entrepreneur and informal economy expert GG Alcock said South Africa’s real unemployment rate is 15% – significantly lower than official figures suggest.

Stats SA recently revealed that South Africa’s official unemployment rate was 32.6% in the second quarter of 2023 – a slight improvement from the first quarter.

The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) indicated that the number of employed persons increased by 154,000 to 16.3 million.

The number of people who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 93,000 to 13.3 million.

According to the expanded definition, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 of a percentage point to 42.1% in Q2 2023.

These numbers suggest that South Africa has one of the worst unemployment problems in the world, especially among the youth.

However, Alcock disputes these numbers, saying it does not accurately reflect what is happening in the informal sector.

He said the country’s real unemployment rate is just above 15%, far lower than the 32.6% that is making headlines.

The reason for the discrepancy is the way Stats SA measures unemployment. It includes a “strict” or “narrow” definition and a broad definition.

  • This narrow definition considers a person unemployed only if they have taken active steps to look for work or start some form of self-employment.
  • The broad definition includes people who want to work but are not actively searching for a job as they have lost hope.
Alcock argues that these definitions do not account for the large numbers of income streams that fall outside the definitions.

He argues that unemployment in South Africa should be defined as people who do not have a job or other form of income.

“A person who rents out their backroom for income does not want a job. They are definitely not disillusioned work seekers as suggested,” he said.

He said if you consider all forms of income, excluding social grants, the true unemployment rate is close to 15%.
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https://dailyinvestor.com/south-africa/27964/south-africas-real-unemployment-rate/

Nothing for Stats SA to argue there unfortunately. The definition of unemployment is narrow.

Stats SA uses the employment definition because people want to know how much labour is not being used, which is pretty important.
However I think people also use unemployment as a leading indicator of poverty, which would include the people who have some passive income like renting.
 
ghaye said:
Oh dear! @MalcomZ has found a new rocking horse to ride. Black people are suffering because of "white people lie about genocide". Can't make this up. 😂 😂 😂 😂
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Like Champ's one view = DA bad
Malcom one view = Anything happens in SA , apartheid/white causes it .

Whitey is a god in his eyes.. We snap our fingers and bad stuff happens !
 
ghaye said:
Black people are suffering because of "white people lie about genocide".
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I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone with any kind of a logical rational thought process could believe this. WTF? There are issues a billion times worse directly affecting all South Africans.
 
Jer1cho said:
I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone with any kind of a logical rational thought process could believe this. WTF? There are issues a billion times worse directly affecting all South Africans.
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Genocide affects almost 18% of minority population. Just because your tribe is not included in genocide doesn't make it kosher.
 
Sideshow Bob said:
Genocide affects almost 18% of minority population. Just because your tribe is not included in genocide doesn't make it kosher.
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My tribe is my family. Not some broad group of people who look like me. I can also generalize but Im not that petty.
 
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