South Africa Targets January 2027 for Revised AI Policy After Earlier Withdrawal
The seven-member panel will revise flawed citations and aim to send a revised policy to Cabinet by November 2026, officials said.
- On Tuesday, Communications Minister Solly Malatsi established an independent seven-member expert panel to review South Africa's withdrawn draft national AI policy, chaired by Professor Benjamin Rosman of Wits University.
- AI hallucinations fabricating fictitious academic citations forced Malatsi to pull the April 2026 draft after News24 exposed the flawed references, though internal checks had not flagged the issues beforehand.
- Director-General Nonkqubela Jordan-Dyani called the incident 'highly regrettable' and acknowledged 'a massive oversight' in AI use, while two officials were placed on precautionary suspension pending investigation.
- The panel operates on a compressed timeline with Cabinet approval targeted for November-December 2026 and the revised policy scheduled for public comment in January 2027.
- AI expert Professor Rendani Mbuvha said the incident underscored 'the irony of a human-centred framework being undermined by AI hallucination,' highlighting the urgent need to train policymakers on technology's promise and shortcomings.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Why South Africa’s AI Policy Leverage Is Slipping Away Unused
This article is adapted by the author with permission from Tech Policy Press. Read the original article.South Africa is not just another developing country struggling to govern artificial intelligence (AI); it is the exception with leverage, and the window to act on it is closing. It holds approximately 88% of global platinum-group metal reserves, critical inputs to parts of the semiconductor and data center supply chains that make AI infrastruc…
South Africa Rebuilds AI Policy After Fake Citations
NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, Roger A. Agana, https://www.newsghana.com.gh/south-africa-rebuilds-ai-policy-after-fake-citations/South Africa will release a revised artificial intelligence (AI) policy in January 2027 after withdrawing an earlier draft that contained fabricated academic references generated by AI tools without proper human verification. Communications Minister Solly Malatsi announced the creation of an inde…
South Africa delays AI policy to 2027 after citation scandal
South Africa’s long-awaited national artificial intelligence (AI) policy has been delayed to January 2027 after the government withdrew an earlier draft over fabricated academic references. The setback has triggered renewed scrutiny over how generative AI is being used in policymaking and exposed weaknesses in government oversight. A delegation from the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, led by Communications Minister Solly M…
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