Bell Pottinger corrupting politics

In South Africa, Bell Pottinger - a PR Firm - have been going too far.

I'm archiving this here because it's an example of meddling in countries that should be left alone.

Its PR term was - 'White monopoly capital' . This is lobbying at it's worst by a company that has NO IDEA of how politics works in Africa and how DANGEROUS such an idea can be to the millions who are suffering as the result of a corrupt Government, without the 'White' at all!

Good listening on the BBC.(Sorry - I believe you have to log in to the BBC now)
The British PR firm’s role in South African politics

The British PR firm’s role in South African politics – Part 2

The British PR firm's role in South African politics - Part 3British PR firm's role in South African politics - Part 4

Good reading here - and this kind of PR propaganda is going on all over Africa. Shame on you!

For whom Bell Pottinger toils

The perils of lobbying in Africa

Working for African governments is lucrative, but increasingly risky, for Western PR firms

THE first rule for public-relations firms is not to become the story. In South Africa Bell Pottinger, a British firm, has done just that. In May, e-mails between one of the firm’s employees and Duduzane Zuma, a son of President Jacob Zuma, were leaked to South African newspapers. Bell Pottinger had been hired by a company owned by the Gupta family, a trio of Indian businessmen brothers who are chummy with the president, to bolster their image.
One can see why they might seek such help. A report by a former public protector last year accused them of orchestrating “state capture” on behalf of the president, and their names have become a campaign slogan for the opposition. The e-mails showed how the firm had proposed to push the idea that criticism of the president—and the Gupta family—was intended to perpetuate “economic apartheid”, an incendiary claim in South Africa.>>>>>Western firms have long offered help to shady leaders wanting to gild their reputations overseas. Increasingly, however, they are being drafted to run domestic political campaigns too—spreading deft propaganda via social media. Bell Pottinger is far from the only firm spinning south of the Sahara. In Kenya, Cambridge Analytica, a firm credited with helping Donald Trump become president, is working to help President Uhuru Kenyatta get re-elected. In Gabon last August, a country with a population of less than 2m, your correspondent encountered no fewer than three firms working on the re-election campaign of President Ali Bongo Ondimba.This work is lucrative. In America, lobbying firms working for foreign governments must submit details of their deals under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). These show, for example, how Moïse Katumbi, an exiled politician from the Democratic Republic of Congo, paid $350,000 for the services of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. The Congolese government, too, has its own firm. FARA returns show that 15 countries have contracts with American lobbying firms. There is no equivalent disclosure in Europe.