South Africa: A Year After Bell Pottinger's Demise, Its Toxic Legacy Lives On

analysis

Exactly one year ago, British PR firm Bell Pottinger received its final death-knell. On 12 September 2017, it went into administration, the firm's collapse directly precipitated by its work for the Gupta family in South Africa. This week, it was revealed that the man who chaired the British PR industry's probe into Bell Pottinger, Francis Ingham, had been personally threatened by South African "thugs". And while the firm itself may no longer exist, the dodgy practices it brought to South Africa's public discourse appear to be alive and well - as the Democratic Alliance claims to have experienced this week.

Taking on the Gupta family can be costly. Francis Ingham, the head of Britain's Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), learnt this the hard way.

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