Businessman Rob Hersov alleges the outlet, funded by an ANC-donating parent company, Naspers, targets critics while protecting the government, citing doxxing hypocrisy and smear campaigns.
In a blistering critique, South African businessman Rob Hersov has accused the nation’s largest digital news publisher, News24, of functioning as a propaganda arm for the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
Hersov alleges that News24, under editor Adriaan Basson and Pieter du Toit, assistant editor, engages in “political warfare” by targeting government critics and opposition leaders.
The accusations centers on claims of a glaring double standards, highlighted by the 2025 doxxing of a white social media user, Twatterbaas. Du Toit labeled a South African population graph shared by Twatterbaas as “fake” and “disinformation”, a graph which News24 had reportedly published itself in 2017.
News24’s Covert Deletion: Graph Vanishes, Internet Archive Blocked
After this oversight was pointed out, News24 “quitely” deleted the graph from their website. News24 has since also updated their website breaking the Internet Archive from being able to archive the content on their website, sending any saved pages into a loop to their home page. This possibly an intentional move to protect themselves from facing scrutiny for similar “screw-ups” in the future.
Nasper’s Millions in Funding to ANC
Fueling the allegations are public records showing News24’s parent company, Naspers, donated at least R4 million to the ANC.
Hersov claims this financial relationship explains a pattern of alleged smear campaigns against opposition figures, such as Gayton McKenzie, while the media outlet simultaneously shields the scandal-plagued ANC from scrutiny, undermining the press’s role as a public watchdog.
Hersov’s claims, backed by public records and a press ombudsman ruling against News24, highlight a crisis of media trust, urging South Africans to demand transparency and reject biased reporting.
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