Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi has apologised after South Africa’s draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy was withdrawn over the inclusion of fabricated references, an error he described as a serious embarrassment for both his department and government. Speaking to SABC News, Malatsi said the failure was particularly damaging because the policy itself was intended to address the responsible use of AI.

The minister said the department had fallen short of the standards expected of the executive authority and that internal accountability would follow. He said the draft would have to be restored to a credible state before it is published again for public comment, adding that the episode showed why human oversight remains essential even when AI tools are used in drafting or research.

News24 first reported that several of the cited academic sources did not exist, prompting scrutiny of the document’s reference list. Article One later wrote to Malatsi about the irregularities, and activist Zackie Achmat published details of the concerns, including six apparently fictitious studies said to have been listed in the policy under the names of researchers and journals that could not be verified.

Malatsi subsequently withdrew the draft policy in a statement issued on Sunday, 26 April 2026, just over two weeks after it was placed in the Government Gazette for public comment on 10 April 2026. According to the notice, the draft had already been approved by Cabinet on 25 March 2026 and at a special sitting on 1 April 2026, meaning the document had cleared the country’s highest political levels before the errors were exposed. The minister said consequence management would follow and insisted the process must be tightened before the policy returns.

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Source: Noah Wire Services