By: Xolile Mtembu - IOL

Misinformation is rife online with anonymous individuals hiding behind troll or throwaway accounts and spewing false information to serve their own narrative.

One such account took on one of South Africa's biggest retailers, Woolworths on X.

"In South Africa, if you do charity with large companies like Woolworths, distributing end of life food to the homeless. You have to sign a contract ensuring that it's not given to white homeless people because of their BEE regulations.

"I don't believe that it should be just government officials getting sanctioned for this. Larger corporates supporting such racist systems deserve sanctions, too," said the account going by Saxon African.

In response, Woolworths rubbished the post and said the account is spreading disinformation with malicious intent.

"This account appears to be spreading misinformation with malicious intent. They have blocked us from responding to the tweet, but we can categorically state that the below is fake news," said the retailer.

"We want to be very clear: Woolworths will never deny food donations to a person in need based on their race. Our surplus food is distributed through Food Forward SA (FFSA) to those who need it most. While FFSA has operational requirements that beneficiary organisations must meet."

Woolworths went on to clarify that none of these requirements are based on race. Additionally, the FFSA stipulates that companies desiring membership may not discriminate against any person on the basis of race. 

The company said it was alarmed by the spreading of misinformation.

"Despite no evidence to support the false claims made by an anonymous account, the tweet in question has reached over 130,000 people, deepening the divide between South Africans. We urge our customers to be mindful of the content they share, and to contact us directly with any questions they may have."

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