It’s going to be a big moment for South Africa. On 4 November 2026, the country heads to the polls for local government elections, and if past elections are anything to go by, the run-up will be messy in more ways than one. Alongside the usual political campaigning, policy debates, and voter education, there will be a flood of disinformation — some of it silly, some of it dangerous, and all of it designed to confuse, divide, or manipulate. The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has already flagged this. In fact, the IEC’s chairperson, Mosotho Moepya, has warned that generative AI…

In a stark warning that underscores the invisible war being waged alongside the physical one, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has revealed that Russia is meticulously preparing a new wave of information operations centered on the occupied city of Oleshky in the Kherson region. This is not a spontaneous act of propaganda but a calculated, multi-week campaign, reportedly scheduled to unfold between October and early November. The SBU’s announcement, made on October 7, is not merely about anticipating a few misleading videos; it is a preemptive exposure of a cynical ploy that weaponizes human suffering for political gain. The intelligence, gathered…