By Masibongwe Sihlahla
Goolam Muhammed Suliman Vawda’s disturbing behaviour as a sock puppet for the big money cabal has been marked by disingenuousness over a period of six years and it is fortunate for us as concerned South Africans that Independent Media under the watchful eye of Dr Iqbal Survé picked this up long ago.
Many see him as the Hasbara of Media24, a shady media house started by those who benefited generously from apartheid. His online persona, particularly as the user @goolammv (on X), often engaged in deceptive tactics and it became clear he was a classical sock puppet, where an opportunist individual with low moral values creates fake accounts to manipulate discussions, undermines honest discourse and trust our democratic institutions.
From the get-go Vawda targeted Dr Iqbal Survé, the owner of Independent Media, with aggressive and highly malicious posts. As I always maintained if you are being attacked you must be doing something right.
What did Dr Iqbal Survé do right ? He exposed these mainstream media beneficiaries of apartheid. These attacks on Dr Iqbal Survé were intended to harm personal reputations, create divisions, and hinder constructive dialogue in the run-up to the 2024 elections. When individuals use misinformation, personal attacks, and smear campaigns, they endanger not only the personal safety of the individuals they are targeting but they threaten the viability of our democratic values.
Democracy thrives on open debate, transparency, and respect for differing opinions as it did during the years of the UDF. Vawda’s actions were clearly directed and intended by a certain cabal to undermine these principles and to cause chaos in our society.
In America, Trump's brand of fake news resulted in the now infamous January 6 insurrection and in the run-up to the current American elections there is wide fear that fake news can result in setting the tone for a civil war in America, such is the devastating power of fake news. It is in this light that Dr Iqbal Survé has seen to it that the public is informed that they need not take @Goolamvmv lightly.
The sad reality is that there are many on the far right such as certain media houses who were born out of apartheid who gloat over this incident in their pursuit of undermining Independent Media. The South African public need to know how serious this threat is closer to home in our rainbow nation.
The purpose of those who are behind @Goolammv is that they want to construct a South African society where the conditions under which we are able to draw valid and values-driven political conclusions are rendered useless. It is the same people under apartheid where StratCom — our apartheid Hasbara — controlled the ability of the rank and file Afrikaner to make his own informed political judgements.
Those big money political donors are so powerful they achieved in the 2024 elections exactly what they wanted and that is control via the GNU over certain government departments. People may call me a conspiracy theorist but I am only following the money, or must I say the drug trail of @goolammv?
In South Africa it is well known that as a result of apartheid the overwhelming majority of our population is not highly schooled and is thus very susceptible to scams and spreading fake news to make it difficult for readers to distinguish between fact and fiction through his careful and skilful use of language by telling 90% of the truth it is difficult for the ordinary person to fathom that 10% is a lie. This @goolammv did very skilfully thereby instilling in the voters a sense of foreboding. So much for the new GNU when prices did not come down. No longer do we read doomsday articles in mainstream media about the impending collapse of society if the ANC wins. It proves who easily ordinary people can be manipulated and it proves once again the power of the media.
What the @goolammv incident brought to light beyond a shadow of doubt is that there are people in high positions in the ruling party who have been captured by these forces of darkness because the information that @goolammv peddled was information which only people high up in the hierarchy of the ruling party were privy to. Ultimately that led to the exposure of @goolammv's real identity but for them it was worth it as they achieved what they set out to achieve and that is to bring about a coalition government in a forced marriage and render it acceptable by calling it a GNU by dishing out ministerial posts etc.
* Masibongwe Sihlahla is an independent writer and political commentator.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.