Politicians using dirty tricks must be punished

Fabricating lies about opponents and passing them off as facts is a dirty way of winning in politics.

‘Don’t try this at Luthuli House’ , said the slogan on yellow ANC T- shirts worn by scores of supporters who marched outside the ruling party’s headquarters in the Johannesburg CBD.| Supplied

The emergence of allegations that the ANC may have used an election war room to generate and spread dirt on their opponents during last year’s local government elections did not come as much of a shock to anyone who dabbles in social media.

It’s not so much that dirty tricks may have been used to spread false information about opposition parties but that the dirty laundry is being hung out in public for all to see.

This is not to suggest that the alleged tactics are to be considered acceptable – far from it. Fabricating lies about opponents and passing them off as facts is a dirty way of winning in politics. Social media has made the game even murkier.

It has made the dissemination of information to the broader public a possibility for anyone with a cellphone and a little data. Propaganda has always been a part of the dirty tricks to win the hearts and minds of voters but electoral codes of conduct have always kept a modicum of respectability to how far a party can go in discrediting opponents.

Political parties have realised that the speed with which social media can pass on information can be a useful tool in shaping the political landscape.

Yet the parties must act responsibly.

READ MORE: Give us space to investigate ‘war room’ allegations – ANC

It’s not yet clear how far the ANC’s war room went in the alleged fabrications of falsehoods about the EFF and the DA – and it seems the opposition parties themselves have not covered themselves in glory, either.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the DA used their electoral war rooms to plan things such as placing callers to talk radio stations to push an agenda that leaves the ruling party in a bad light.

This confirms what we already know: politics is a dirty game. The room for honour among politicians is very limited.

The recent proliferation of satirical news sites and fake news in our political space must have fuelled the intentions of the ANC’s election strategists to have them believe the means justify the end.

But they got caught. On the face of it, one might see this as much ado about nothing, but a deeper reflection on the saga shows the potential threat to the one leg of our democracy: our ability to exercise our right to vote without the influence of falsehoods about the candidates we choose to vote for or against.

Resorting to propaganda or dirty tricks to influence voters is a sign of desperation.

It can also be dangerous, given the speed with which social media can spread a piece of information without the checks and balances that go into the traditional forms of news gathering.

When parties are caught in the act of spreading falsehoods, concrete action must be taken so that the possibility of being found out to have lied to voters becomes a deterrent on its own.

“Paid Twitter” cannot be stopped because that’s how people do branding on social media – but paying individuals to spread falsehoods for the purpose of gaining votes must have real consequences. Our democratic processes cannot be subverted for the expedience of those who can afford to flash money and alter a country’s destiny.

If electoral rules are broken, there must be punishment.