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ARTICLE · 01 MAY 2026

"The Hallucinatory Irony Of It All": Minister Withdraws Draft National AI Policy

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On 10 April 2026 in a significant leap in the regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in South Africa, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (Department) published the Draft South African National AI Policy (Draft AI Policy) for public comment.

CanadaTechnology
Venolan Naidoo
Venolan Naidoo
Danelle Plaatjies
Danelle Plaatjies
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Introduction

On 10 April 2026 in a significant leap in the regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in South Africa, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (Department) published the Draft South African National AI Policy (Draft AI Policy) for public comment. The period for public comment was meant to expire on 10 June 2026. However, on 26 April 2026, the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, took to the social media platform “X” to issue a statement withdrawing the policy.

The statement read as follows:

“Statement on the integrity of the Draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy

Following revelations that the Draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy published for public comment contains various fictitious sources in its reference list, we initiated internal questions which have now confirmed that this was the case.

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