It seems some of the political parties that signed the Electoral Code of Conduct are not necessarily abiding by what they committed themselves to. But perhaps the media (fourth estate or journalists) itself should also be bound by a similar code, because wow, the amount of misinformation, disinformation and propaganda doing the rounds is something else. The Electoral Code of Conduct, contained in Schedule 1 of the Municipal Electoral Act 27 of 2000, exists precisely to ensure conditions conducive to free and fair elections. The Act sets out prohibited conduct and provides for penalties for contraventions, ranging from formal warnings and fines to the cancellation of votes and party registration. Among the prohibited conduct are: • Using language that provokes violence. • Intimidating candidates or voters. • Publishing false information about other candidates or political parties. • Plagiarising another party’s symbols, name or acronyms. • Offering an inducement or reward to someone to vote for a particular party. • Destroying, removing or defacing another party’s posters. I particularly want to emphasise the provision on publishing false information about other candidates or political parties, because of what we are currently seeing around the health of former President Jacob Zuma. There is so much malicious information being pushed around, not only by sections of the media but also by political actors aligned to certain political parties. For whatever reasons best known to them, some of these actors appear to be deliberately spreading information without regard for whether it is true or not. And it is not just about the former President’s health. We also see what is presented as breaking news about internal party matters, including claims that the MKP SG has been fired or replaced. Whether those particular claims are true or not, I honestly don't know. That is not even the point I am making. The point is that there appears to be a deliberate online propaganda campaign, driven through social media, where misinformation and disinformation are circulated, sometimes before anyone has bothered to establish the facts. What concerns me even more is that some of this goes beyond ordinary political contestation, free speech or journalistic reporting. It becomes dark, malicious and potentially dangerous propaganda, capable of creating confusion, fuelling tensions and triggering unintended consequences. We cannot normalise a political environment where people deliberately manufacture or circulate falsehoods simply because they believe it serves their political interests. Political competition or independent and fair reporting is one thing; deliberately misleading the public is another. As we approach the local government elections which is 26 days out to the 4th of November, the integrity of information matters just as much as the integrity of the electoral process itself. People must be able to make informed political choices without being manipulated by fabricated stories and sensational claims masquerading as breaking news. I sincerely hope the @IECSouthAfrica is taking note of this growing behaviour and considering what action, within its mandate, can be taken to address it. The Electoral Code of Conduct cannot mean much if its principles are only invoked when convenient, while the deliberate spreading of false information is allowed to continue unchecked. Free and fair elections are not only about what happens at the ballot box. They are also about the information environment in which voters form their opinions and make their choices. – at Milnerton, South Africa