EDITORIAL: The Bell Pottinger virus endures
The British public relations company’s campaign has been simultaneously disastrous and successful
In the end, a public relations company that successfully duped millions on behalf of the mighty Pentagon has been brought to its knees by South African twitterati. On Monday, the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills presented its report on British public relations company Bell Pottinger and found, unsurprisingly, that the company was in breach of ethical principles in its campaign to bring about "economic emancipation" in SA. The announcement of the findings in the report, which was commissioned by the public relations firm, was preceded by the resignation of its CEO, James Henderson. Such is the brutal definiteness of the British way. Henderson was not himself involved in the work, but he was CEO and fell on his sword. Bell Pottinger has not released the report, but in a sense it does not have to; the nature of the campaign in all its viciousness and contemptible ethics is well known. But it remains important to know precisely what the company did and to what extent its detestable camp...
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