South Africa Withdraws AI Policy After AI Hallucinations

South African Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi withdrew the Draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy on April 26, 2026, after an internal investigation confirmed the document contained fictitious academic citations. The 86-page policy had been approved by President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet in late March and published in the Government Gazette on April 10 for public comment.

The scandal emerged following reports from News24 and findings by Tyronne McCrindle of Article One, who identified that at least six of the 67 academic references were AI-generated hallucinations. These fabrications blended real authors with non-existent journals, compromising three of the policy's six pillars, specifically those concerning economic transformation and responsible governance. The draft had proposed creating a National AI Commission, an AI Ethics Board, and an AI Insurance Superfund to protect victims of algorithmic bias.

Malatsi described the lapse as an unacceptable failure of integrity and emphasized that the incident proves the critical need for human oversight when using generative AI. He promised consequence management for the officials responsible for the drafting and quality assurance process. While the Minister apologized and pledged a revised version subject to rigorous review, no date has been set for the replacement draft. The failure drew sharp criticism from Parliament's communications committee chair, Khusela Diko, and other political opposition members.