Here is the story of a moment in South Africa’s long, painful reckoning with state capture, told in the language of people and consequences rather than legal jargon. It is about SARS — the South African Revenue Service — and its decision, led by Commissioner Johnstone Makhubu, to argue that a Gupta-linked entity called Islandsite 180 has no business to rescue, and should instead be liquidated. Behind that dry legal phrase lies a saga of extraordinary greed, stolen public trust, and a nation trying to pick up the pieces. To understand what this means, we have to slow down and…

Imagine scrolling through your newsfeed and suddenly finding a story that feels just off—too convenient, too polarizing, too perfectly designed to make you angry. You check the source, then the source’s source, and soon you’re tumbling down a rabbit hole of half-truths, manipulated images, and confident voices saying opposite things. If that experience sounds familiar, you are not alone. The Council Library has launched a series of reading lists specifically for people like you: policy professionals who work in areas touched by ongoing disinformation campaigns, as well as communicators and information specialists who encounter disinformation in their daily media environments.…