Community guidelines

Mandate SA has no public comments. People contribute through submissions on a record: a dispute, additional information, a right of response or a profile claim. Account holders contribute through change requests on their own workspace. Everything is reviewed by an editor before anything changes.

Three things look alike but are different:

• a submission is private, under review and not public;
• an account holder’s statement is published as theirs and labelled as such;
• a verified record is what an official source states, or what an editor has found with evidence.

• Point to evidence: an official source, a document or a page, with its date.
• Say what you believe is wrong and what the evidence shows instead.
• Send only material you are entitled to share.
• Strong criticism of public officials, parties and institutions is welcome. Being critical or controversial is not a reason to reject a contribution.

• threats, harassment and incitement;
• abuse based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, disability or any other ground protected by the Constitution;
• doxxing: home addresses, personal phone numbers, identity numbers or family details of anyone, including public figures;
• impersonating someone, or evidence you know to be false or altered;
• allegations of wrongdoing against a named person without evidence for them (an allegation is reviewed against its evidence, and an unsupported one is not published);
• material you have no right to share, including copyrighted material sent without permission;
• spam and automated submissions.

If something on Mandate SA breaks these guidelines — for example a published response that reveals someone’s private details — use report a problem, or the “Dispute this record” form on the record concerned. An editor reviews every report, and a senior editor can withdraw published material, with a public note, when it should not have been published.

Editors may decline a contribution, ask for more evidence, or restrict an account that breaks these guidelines. Each decision and its reason is recorded. You may ask for a review of a decision about your contribution or account. A different editor will look at it.

See also the terms of use and corrections and disputes.