MARY ALEXANDER • 15 MAY 2024

“Die nuus vanoggend het alle Suid-Afrikaners geskok!” That’s Afrikaans for “the news this morning shocked all South Africans”, and it’s a common theme in a new scam circulating on Facebook in 2024.*

The various versions of the scam use photos of prominent South Africans, with false clickbait headlines suggesting they have met a “tragic end” or have had a “secret” about them revealed – sometimes both.

One shows a photo of Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters political party. South Africa is set to hold national and provincial elections on 29 May. The headline below the photo reads:

Die nuus vanoggend het alle Suid-Afrikaners geskok! Die geheim van die groot leier is uiteindelik geopenbaar! (The news this morning shocked all South Africans. The great leader’s secret has finally been revealed.)

A variation on this says, in Afrikaans, that Malema has met a “tragic end”.

Another version uses photos of tech entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. The headline reads:

Skok! Die tragiese einde van Mark Shuttleworth. Sy geheim is uiteindelik geopenbaar. (Shock! The tragic end of Mark Shuttleworth. His secret is finally revealed.)

Yet another shows cricketer AB de Villiers, suggesting he’s in trouble with the law:

Die tragiese einde van AUberVilliers! Vanoggend het die nuus alle Suid-Afrikaners geskok!! Aanklagte teen AUberVilliers bevestig! (The tragic end of AUberVilliers! This morning the news shocked all South Africans!! Charges against AUberVilliers confirmed!)

Facebook users have complained about this version, with one posting on a cricketing page: “These scammers and Fake News distributors just never Gives up.”

Actor and producer Pearl Thusi is another celebrity the scam claims has met a “tragic end”.

The previews in some versions of the scam show Citizen.co.za, News24.com or Netwerk24.com, the URLs of legitimate South African news sites. But when you click the “Learn More” button, the link goes elsewhere.

None of the shocks to be found in the news

All of the scam posts lead to e-commerce sites, most of them selling either clothing and accessories or, oddly, children’s books. Most of the URLs are dodgy and seem unrelated to the products – startcapitalstructure.com, for example, or startriskdiversificationlearn.com.

Some of the links are now broken, but several of the suspicious sites remain live. Only one version leads to a legitimate ecommerce site, for the US clothing company YoungLA.

The almost identical wording used in the scam’s different versions is a pretty clear indication that its sensational headlines are false.

But to be sure, we checked the news.

There have been no recent reports of any major “secret” about Malema “finally being revealed”, or that he has met a “tragic end”. Given his prominence in politics, either would have made front page headlines.

Similarly, neither Shuttleworth nor Thusi have had a “tragic end”. And De Villiers is not facing any charges.

* Some claims posted on Facebook and Instagram may have been deleted by users after being rated via Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program.

Published by Africa Check on 22 May 2024

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MARY ALEXANDER • 5 MARCH 2024

South Africans are set to vote on 29 May 2024 in what could be the country’s most game-changing elections in 30 years. Polls suggest the ruling African National Congress (ANC) may lose the majority it has held since 1994.

As campaign fever rises, an old rumour has surfaced on social media.*

It claims that if a voter doesn’t cast their ballot, that vote automatically goes to the ANC – or, more generally, the “ruling party”.

The rumour has many versions, all with the same basic claim:

• If you were a voter before then suddenly stopped voting , the ruling party which happens to be the current government automatically counts your vote towards theirs regardless of whether or not you voted. this is somehow one of their corrupt tendencies/system which is why people are encouraged to vote.
• I am also here to remind you that if you do not vote, your vote automatically goes to the ruling party which is ANC.
• We as young people don’t like to go and vote, one thing some of us aren’t aware of is, if we don’t our votes automatically goes to the ruling party.
• In case you didn’t know (I also didn’t know and it took me a while to grasp it), if you’re registered to vote but you do NOT vote, apparently that vote automatically goes to the ruling party.. just saying!
• Even if you are registered to vote, if you decide not to vote on the elections day, your vote will automatically fall under ANC. Simply because ANC is the ruling party.

Elections for South Africa’s national parliament and nine provincial governments are held every five years. The previous elections in 2019 saw support for the ANC drop to 57.5% of the national vote, its lowest outcome yet.

The main opposition parties are the Democratic Alliance, which won 20.8% of the vote in 2019, and the Economic Freedom Fighters, which scored 10.8%.

All South African citizens aged 18 and over are eligible to vote. But they first have to register with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), which adds their details to the voter’s roll.

The claim that votes not cast in the 2024 elections will “automatically” go to the ruling party can also be seen here, here, here, here, here, here and here. But is it true?

‘Why would they bother if we vote or not?’

South Africa’s Electoral Act of 1998 sets out how votes are counted in elections. There’s no mention in the act or any of its amendments that if a registered voter doesn’t vote, that vote automatically goes to the ruling party.

The IEC keeps an online database of election statistics going back to 1994. One of those stats is voter turnout, or the number of registered voters who actually turned up at the polls on election day.

In 2019 voter turnout was 66.05%. This means that out of 26,756,649 registered voters, 17,672,851 cast their vote (including 235,472 spoiled ballots). It also means that 9,083,798 voters did not vote.

These 9 million non-votes did not “go to” the ANC.

The ruling party received 10,026,475 votes, or 57.5% of all valid votes (excluding spoiled ballots), giving it 230 of the 400 seats in parliament.

If the 9 million non-voting ballots were then credited to the ANC its share would have risen to an impossible 109.59% of all valid votes. And if its total was made up of those 9 million non-votes then only 5.4% of valid votes were actually cast for the ANC – highly unlikely, given the former liberation movement’s continued (if waning) popularity.

‘There is absolutely no truth to the rumour’ – electoral commission

Some social media users make a good argument against the claim.

“If it’s true why would they [the ANC] even bother if we vote or not, because us not voting would automatically make sure that they remain in power right? So why would they encourage us?”

In other words, if the claim were true it would be in the ANC’s interest if voters stayed away from the polls. Yet the party campaigns actively and has urged people to go out and vote.

The rumour is more than a decade old, doing the rounds on social media since at least South Africa’s 2011 municipal elections. It cropped up again during national elections in 2014 (here and here) and 2019 (here and here).

In 2019 it caught the attention of the IEC, which took to X (then Twitter) to debunk it.

“There is absolutely no truth to the rumour that if you don’t vote your vote will go to the ruling (or any other) party,” the commission tweeted. “Only valid votes cast in an election are counted in the result. Thanks for checking.”

There is absolutely no truth to the rumour that if you don’t vote your vote will go to the ruling (or any other) party. Only valid votes cast in an election are counted in the result. Thanks for checking.

— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) May 8, 2019

It’s not true that if you don’t vote, your vote automatically goes to the ruling party.

The rumour may come from an argument that people who choose not to vote – for whatever reason – somehow benefit the ruling party. But even that argument has holes in it. There is no saying which party stayaway voters would have voted for if they had cast their ballots.

* Some Facebook and Instagram users may have deleted their posts after Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program rated their claims as untrue.

Published by Africa Check on 8 March 2024

The post If you don’t vote in South Africa’s elections, your vote goes to the ruling party? No, only valid votes counted appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

MARY ALEXANDER • 7 FEBRUARY 2024

Warning: This report fact-checks a violent and distressing video.

A shocking video of two men whipping and clubbing a third man – bruised and bloody, crouched in the dirt and naked except for his grey underwear – is circulating online with the claim it was filmed in South Africa.*

A common caption reads: “South Africa – More disturbing footage from the racist pro Hamas country as we see a white farmer being viciously assaulted with weapons by savages linked to Julius Malema´s EFF.”

EFF is the Economic Freedom Fighters, a political party led by Julius Malema. South Africa is set to hold elections in 2024. The claim first appeared on social media in early January.

Hamas controls the Gaza Strip in the Middle East, a part of Palestine mostly bordered by Israel. The war between the two, raging since Hamas’s deadly 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, had by 5 February 2024 killed a reported 27,478 Palestinians in Gaza and more than 1,400 Israelis in both territories.

In late December 2023 South Africa took to the International Court of Justice to charge Israel with genocide for its conduct of the war inside Gaza. This has led to counter-accusations on social media that there is an ongoing genocide of white people in South Africa.

The myth of white genocide in South Africa – particularly of white farmers – has been repeatedly debunked over many years.

The video’s other captions include:

• This year general elections will be held in South Africa and the fate of 4.8 million of white citizens will be sealed. Let’s hope they choose wisely.
• This is what they are doing to White Farmers in South Africa.
• A Boer farmer in South Africa is being attacked by black South Africans. White farmers face daily attacks, but the media doesn’t cover it. #SouthAfrica #Apartheid #Genocide
• A South African Boer farmer being beaten by black South Africans. The white farmers are being targeted daily with no media coverage.

The claim can also be seen here, here and here.

But the video shows a real hate crime, filmed four years ago on a different continent.

Suspect charged with Brazil’s crime of homophobia in 2020

Africa Check googled phrases from the video’s captions, such as “boer farmer attacked by black South Africans”, with the results limited to January 2024.

This led us to comments on a tweet from the X/Twitter account @Migrants5O73250. The account appears to have repeated the claim, but has been suspended for violating the X Rules.

But the comments remain. One reads: “And that white farmer (who is actually a professor) was beaten by South Africans in Brazil where he lives? Cause his aggressor was sentenced in Brazil and it happened in Brazil. Almost as if you were lying.”

And that white farmer (who is actually a professor) was beaten by South Africans in Brazil where he lives?

Cause his aggressor was sentenced in Brazil and it happened in Brazil.

Almost as if you were lying. https://t.co/MCP1XIANto

— The G (@NotVanVeen) January 19, 2024

It links to a Brazilian news article dated 18 February 2020. A machine translation of the Portuguese headline reads: “After being recorded performing oral sex in a public square, a teacher is brutally beaten in Serra Branca.”

Serra Branca is a city in Paraíba, a northeastern state in the South American country of Brazil.

Photos in the article show the victim after he was rescued by police. His appearance, bruising and wounds, as well as his grey underwear and the dirt he lies in, all indicate he is the man assaulted in the viral video.

He was also interviewed from his hospital bed in a news segment uploaded on YouTube. It clearly shows the same man.

The victim said four people were involved in the attack. One suspect was arrested and charged with the crimes of torture, bodily harm and homophobia.

Homophobia – specifically violence against LGBTQ+ people because of their sexual orientation – is a crime in Brazil.

The attack was widely reported by Brazilian media in February 2020, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

All evidence points to the attack being in Brazil in 2020, not in South Africa in 2024.

And despite what some captions claim about the media, if the video did show an assault on a white farmer in South Africa it would have been front page news. But there have been no credible reports of such an attack.

* Some Facebook and Instagram users may have deleted their posts after Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program rated their claims as untrue.

Published by Africa Check on 13 February 2024

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