QAnon: How the world’s fastest-growing conspiracy theory is spreading to SA

09/27/20 • 22 min

On this week’s show, we’re exploring the global movement called QAnon: a web of conspiracy theories, fantasies and lies which may have started in the head of a former tech journalist from Johannesburg, but which has spread to the United States Congress and the White House. And we’re looking at its growing hold on South African social media users too – many of whom may not even realise that they are playing into a vast and very dangerous game.
Additional Resources:
For further information on the possible true identity of Q, listen to episode 166 of the excellent podcast Reply All.
Don’t Shoot the Messenger is produced by Haji Mohamed Dawjee and presented by Rebecca Davis with editing by Tevya Turok Shapiro, original theme music by Bernard Kotze and additional support by Kathryn Kotze.

Previous Episode

Roll-Call by Emoji: The battle to use technology to save SA’s schooling

A teacher logs on to a WhatsApp group at a specified time. All students who are present send emojis to indicate their readiness. And so class begins.
This is what education has looked like in some parts of South Africa during the Covid-19 lockdown, with teachers, NGOs and businesses scrambling to find ways to keep pupils learning from afar. The innovation is there, the technology is available, and online teaching does away with some of the practical problems which plague the local education system.
So in this week’s episode of our podcast, we’re asking: Could virtual learning offer the key to boosting South Africa’s schooling even in non-lockdown times?
Don’t Shoot the Messenger is produced by Haji Mohamed Dawjee and presented by Rebecca Davis with editing by Tevya Turok Shapiro, original theme music by Bernard Kotze and additional support by Kathryn Kotze.
NGOs and businesses mentioned in this episode:
Olico Mathematics Education: https://learn.olico.org/
Axium Education: https://www.axiumeducation.org/
Digicampus: https://www.digicampus.co.za/

Next Episode

In the Rough: Golf courses may be South Africa’s most wasteful luxury

When legal advocacy group Ndifuna Ukwazi launched a 2019 campaign to have Rondebosch Golf Club land re-allocated for affordable housing, it was revealed that the club was paying less than R1000 rent a year for hectares of public land. In this episode, we take a look at those crazy leases - and find that around the country, some golf courses on municipal land are paying as little as R20 rent per year. You read that right: R20 annually.
In this episode, we have no trouble making the case against golf in South Africa in 2020 - but in the interests of fairness, we take a look at the other side too.
Don’t Shoot the Messenger is produced by Haji Mohamed Dawjee and presented by Rebecca Davis with editing by Tevya Turok Shapiro, original theme music by Bernard Kotze and additional support by Kathryn Kotze.