The ANC will abandon its dismissive approach to conspiracies about Covid-19 and plans to create platforms to educate its members about the coronavirus.
This comes after one of its councillors, Sfiso Mngadi in eThekwini, made outrageous claims, saying there is no Covid-19, that 5G cellphone towers are making people ill and that white people have already been vaccinated against the illness.
eThekwini regional leader Bheki Ntuli said dismissing circulating myths as “stupid” and assuming no-one will believe them was not working, leading to false information becoming believable.
“We are realising information about the virus and the pandemic is not at a sufficient level among our people. We cannot spend a lot of time discussing myths so we should instead dedicate time to educate people,” he said.
The platforms, according to Ntuli, will likely be created to educate ANC branch leaders, ward councillors and regional leaders who share the correct information with their communities.
“We will also try to get experts to come onto those platforms to explain about the virus, the pandemic and the vaccines,” he said.
