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South Africa's communications department suspends two officials after its draft AI policy cited fictitious sources; minister says AI use went undeclared

South Africa's Department of Communications and Digital Technologies placed two officials on precautionary suspension with immediate effect, a step the director-general confirmed on 30 April 2026, pending an investigation into the Draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy, which had been gazetted for public comment on 10 April and was withdrawn after News24 and others found fictitious academic sources in its reference list. The department said the irresponsible use of AI tools had compromised the integrity of the document. Briefing Parliament's portfolio committee on 26 May, Minister Solly Malatsi said the two officials were suspended for failing to declare that they used AI, that it had been said ChatGPT was used in editing the document, and that there had been massive oversight and non-disclosure around the use of AI in the policy and its references. The director-general told the committee that the officials had used AI to translate a document from Chile from Spanish into English and that the references came from that document. A new expert panel is guiding a redraft. The officials are not named and the outcome of the investigation is not reported in the sources read.

AI system
ChatGPT (reported)
Occurred
10 Apr 2026
Reported
24 April 2026
Event location
South Africa
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Professional HarmReputational Harm
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Work · Public services
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 6 sources, 4 underlying accounts
8 claims: 1 corroborated, 7 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
2 people

AI system as recorded: AI tools used in drafting South Africa's Draft National AI Policy; the minister told Parliament it had been said that ChatGPT was used in editing the document

What Happened

The policy. The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies gazetted the Draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy for public comment on 10 April 2026, TimesLive reports. On 24 April News24 reported that its reference list contained completely fictitious sources, and MyBroadband reports that the organisation Article One wrote to the minister listing six fictitious sources it believed were likely generated by AI. Minister Solly Malatsi withdrew the policy on Sunday 26 April 2026.

The suspensions. On 30 April the director-general confirmed that two officials had been placed on precautionary suspension with immediate effect, pending an investigation. The department said in its statement that "the irresponsible use of AI tools compromised the integrity of the policy document". On 26 May the minister told Parliament's portfolio committee that the two officials, who were not named, had been suspended for failing to declare that they used AI to craft the document, and that in engaging the officials "it has been said that ChatGPT was used in as far as the editing of the document itself". He spoke of massive oversight and non-disclosure around the use of AI in the formulation of the policy and in its references.

Competing account of the references. The director-general told the committee that the officials used AI to translate a document from Chile from Spanish into English and that this document was the source of the references in the draft. The sources read do not establish which tool produced which reference.

Aftermath. The minister appointed a seven-member expert panel to guide a new draft, to be released for public comment by the end of 2026. Members of the committee questioned the department's internal processes.

Reported harm

According to the department and the minister, two officials were placed on precautionary suspension over undeclared AI use in a national policy document that was withdrawn for citing fictitious sources.

Outcome

Ongoing

Draft policy withdrawn on 26 April 2026 (MyBroadband); two officials placed on precautionary suspension with immediate effect pending investigation, confirmed by the director-general on 30 April 2026 (department statement reported by TimesLive and MyBroadband); minister's briefing to the parliamentary portfolio committee on 26 May 2026 confirmed the suspensions continue and announced a seven-member expert panel to guide a new draft. The outcome of the investigation is not reported in the sources read.

What remains unknown

  • Which AI tool generated the fictitious references; the minister refers to ChatGPT for editing and the director-general to an AI translation of a Chilean document.
  • The outcome of the investigation and any disciplinary action.
  • Whether the suspensions are paid.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The department said the irresponsible use of AI tools compromised the integrity of the policy document, and the minister told Parliament that the two officials were suspended for not declaring their AI use and that ChatGPT had been used in editing the document. The officials used the AI tools and their output went into the draft (communicated_with); the department suspended them in response. Which tool produced which fictitious reference is not established: the director-general linked the references to an AI translation of a Chilean document.

8 claims: 1 corroborated, 7 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The department placed two officials on precautionary suspension, pending an investigation into the draft national AI policy.

Causal attribution. The department's statement of 30 April and the minister's later briefing to Parliament.

  • timeslive.co.za(opens in new tab) supports · English
    has placed two officials on precautionary suspension with immediate effect, pending investigation into the draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy
  • ewn.co.za(opens in new tab) supports · English
    two officials responsible for the withdrawn National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy have been placed on precautionary suspension
Reported The department said the irresponsible use of AI tools compromised the integrity of the policy document.

Causal attribution. The department's own statement.

Reported The minister told the portfolio committee that the officials were suspended for failing to declare that they used AI, and that it had been said ChatGPT was used in editing the document.

Causal attribution. The minister's statements at the 26 May committee briefing, as reported by EWN; one origin.

  • ewn.co.za(opens in new tab) supports · English
    placed on precautionary suspension for failing to declare they used AI to craft the document ... it has been said that ChatGPT was used in as far as the editing of the document itself
  • ewn.co.za(opens in new tab) supports · English
    were put on precautionary suspension for failing to declare their use of AI on the policy that had to be withdrawn
Reported The draft policy was gazetted for public comment on 10 April 2026.

Causal attribution. TimesLive.

Corroborated The draft policy's reference list contained fictitious academic sources.

Causal attribution. News24's own check of the reference list and Article One's letter to the minister.

  • news24.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The Draft National AI Policy published for public comment contains several completely fictitious sources on its reference list.
  • mybroadband.co.za(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Article One sent a letter to the minister listing six fictitious sources in the policy it believed were likely generated by AI
Reported The minister withdrew the policy on 26 April 2026 after News24 published its findings.

Causal attribution. MyBroadband.

Reported The minister told the committee there had been massive oversight and non-disclosure around the use of AI in the formulation of the policy and in its references.

Causal attribution. The minister at the 26 May briefing, as reported by TimesLive.

  • timeslive.co.za(opens in new tab) supports · English
    it’s clear that there was massive oversight and nondisclosure around the use of AI in the formulation of the policy
Reported The director-general told the committee that the officials used AI to translate a document from Chile from Spanish into English and that this document was the source of the references in the draft.

Causal attribution. The director-general at the 26 May briefing, as reported by EWN.

  • ewn.co.za(opens in new tab) supports · English
    This document, we’re told, is from Chile and they had to translate it from Spanish into English and that is the source of which the information emanates in terms of those references contained in the draft policy

Sources

6 sources inspected, from 4 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200). Published 1 May 2026; reports the department's statement on the suspensions. Applies to s1.

Read on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200). Published 26 May 2026; reports the minister's briefing to the portfolio committee. Applies to s2.

Read on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200). Published 27 May 2026; reports the same committee briefing, including the director-general's account. Applies to s3.

Read on 2026-10-17 (HTTP 200). Published 26 May 2026; reports the same committee briefing. Applies to s4.

Read on 2026-10-17 through an Internet Archive capture after the live page returned HTTP 403. Published 3 May 2026; reports the withdrawal, the Article One letter and the director-general's confirmation of the suspensions. Applies to s5.

Read on 2026-10-17 through an Internet Archive capture after the live page returned HTTP 403; only the opening of the paywalled article was available. Published 24 April 2026. Applies to s6.

Event countries: South Africa. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The policy was drafted and gazetted by South Africa's Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, which suspended the two officials. Where the officials live is not used.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-17: Published as a concrete adverse consequence of AI use: the department suspended two officials after a national policy document they were responsible for was withdrawn for citing fictitious sources, and the department and minister attribute the problem to undeclared use of AI tools, including ChatGPT for editing.

People described

Two officials of South Africa's Department of Communications and Digital Technologies responsible for the draft national AI policy

People reported harmed in this case

2 people

2 AI participants · 0 other people harmed

Two people: the two officials the department placed on precautionary suspension (TimesLive's report of the department statement; EWN's report of the minister's briefing). The Home Affairs officials suspended over a separate white paper are a different event and are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#south-africa#public-sector#policy-document#fictitious-references#suspension

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). South Africa's communications department suspends two officials after its draft AI policy cited fictitious sources; minister says AI use went undeclared. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-south-africa-communications-department-suspends-two-officials-over-undeclared-ai-use-in-draft-ai-policy

BibTeX

@misc{2026_south_africa_communications_department_suspends_two_officials_over_undeclared_ai_use_in_draft_ai_policy,
  title = {South Africa's communications department suspends two officials after its draft AI policy cited fictitious sources; minister says AI use went undeclared},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-south-africa-communications-department-suspends-two-officials-over-undeclared-ai-use-in-draft-ai-policy}
}

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