In a move defined by stinging irony, South Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies has withdrawn its Draft National AI Policy after it was revealed that the document contained fictitious, AI-generated citations. Minister Solly Malatsi pulled the 86-page draft following reports that its bibliography included non-existent journals and fake academic studies, a phenomenon known as an 'AI hallucination.' The scandal mirrors a 2025 incident where Deloitte Australia was forced to refund the government after using AI to generate a report containing fake case studies. While the South African policy proposed vital frameworks, including an AI Ethics Board and an AI Insurance Superfund, its credibility is now in tatters. Minister Malatsi has promised 'consequence management' for the drafters but has yet to provide a new timeline, leaving South Africa’s digital ambitions in a state of embarrassing uncertainty.

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