Censorship conspiracy over South Africa’s land expropriation bill

Dear South Africa, a website which aims to make it easier for South Africans to participate in government public consultations on policy and legislation, was issued a take-down notice last week.

The notice was issued to Dear South Africa’s hosting provider, Xneelo, by the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA).

Following the take-down notice, the Dear South Africa website went offline for a few hours. It is currently displaying a notice which says that the site is being migrated.

Rob Hutchinson, the MD and a director of Dear South Africa, took to Twitter and suggested that the take-down notice on the platform was as a result of the organisation’s participation in the land expropriation bill debate.

“Hmm. Dear South Africa participation platform forcibly taken down just as the comment period on land expropriation is coming to an end (10 Feb),” Hutchinson said.

The official Twitter account of Dear South Africa posted a similar message, along with instructions on how people could submit their comments on the bill directly.

The deadline for comments on the land expropriation bill has since been extended to 28 February 2021.

[mybroadband.co.za]