ERIN TORKELSON

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  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Impact
    • Digital Profiteers
    • Covid-19 & Grants
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    • Net1's Payment System
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  • Contact
  • About
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Impact
    • Digital Profiteers
    • Covid-19 & Grants
    • Debt & Grants
    • Net1's Payment System
    • Land & Housing
  • Events
  • Contact

Current Project

Digital profiteers

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In 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa introduced new social protection measures for Covid-19. Given the need for social distancing – and the fact that the new beneficiaries were not registered with the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) – private partners such as GovChat were brought on board to digitise the process. This is not unusual. Around the world, private companies are being contracted to facilitate the digitalisation of state services. I collaborated with Open Secrets to show how these digital systems can  cause harm – particularly to people in need of social assistance. In the digital welfare state, private companies seek to profit from the personal data they gather through digital grant systems co-created with the state. These systems enable extensive surveillance on the part of corporations and the state, in turn enabling profit-taking and political control. 

Advocacy agenda

protect personal data

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Read: Our investigative report about digital profiteering off welfare recipients.
Watch: Our report launch with Rob Rose from the Financial Mail.
Read: This book by Open Secrets on the many unaccountable politicians and corporations in South Africa.

digital Profiteers investigation

data capture harms people


Report and webinar

webinar     report launch, Digital Profiteers, 25 November 2021. 
report     Mike marchant, Abby May, Erin Torkelson, Digital Profiteers, 25 November 2021.

News Articles

MoneyWeb     ciaran Ryan, We could be stumbling into a digital welfare Dystopia, 7 December 2021. 
Financial Mail     Rob Rose, Inside Sa's Welfare industrial complex, 25 November 2021.
Financial Mail     Rob Rose, Just What is the new Net1?, 25 November 2021. 

Radio and TV

RADIO 786     ​MIKE MARCHANT, CPS SOCIAL GRANT MANAGEMENT STILL A SECRET, 11 DECEMBER 2021.
Cape Talk     Abby May, Open Secrets investigation raises red flags, December 2021, 29 November 2021.

ETV News     Erin Torkelson, New report on Digital welfare profiteering, 26 November 2021. 

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