Anti-migrant sentiment is a hot campaign issue, but the video only shows Mozambique’s electoral commission registering citizens living in South Africa to vote in their own upcoming elections.

MARY ALEXANDER • 26 April 2024
Published by Africa Check on 26 April 2024

“MOZAMBIQUE CITIZENS IMPORTED FROM THEIR HOMES TO COME AND VOTE FOR ANC IN UPCOMING MAY ELECTIONS,” reads the copied-and-pasted caption for a video going viral on WhatsApp and Facebook in South Africa in April 2024.*

It adds: “THEY ARE NOW STATIONED IN GAUTENG and Getting processed to have ‘VOTING CARDS’ ID CARDS BY A HOME AFFAIRS-CONTRACTED ‘AGENT’.”

South Africa is set to hold national and provincial elections on 29 May. The vote is likely to be game-changing, as opinion polls suggest the ruling African National Congress (ANC) may lose the parliamentary majority it has held since 1994.

Mozambique borders South Africa to the northeast. Migrants from the country – and elsewhere in Africa – have long been targets of anti-migrant sentiment and xenophobic violence in South Africa. Many migrants come to Gauteng province, the country’s economic centre.

The video begins with the cameraman questioning a man in a blue vest standing in a dusty yard. He is asked if he is an “agent”. The man shows the insignia on his vest, two logos that spell out CNE and STAE. He explains that he is registering people for voters’ cards.

The cameraman then heads off to a nearby building, muttering “This is out automatically of order.”

Inside the building we see people in similar blue vests at tables with laptops and other electronic equipment, and a crowd waiting in chairs.

The camera zooms in on a document being printed and then on a man cropping ID photos. The cameraman asks where he is from and he says Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.

The claim has been posted on Facebook dozens of times, including here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. It also appears on X and YouTube.

But does the video really show Mozambicans “imported” into South Africa to “vote for ANC” being “processed” for “voting cards ID cards”?

Voters’ card used in Mozambique, not South Africa

First, South Africa’s voter registration drive ended on 23 February, the day the election date was announced.

Extensive searches, including reverse image searches of frames from the video, could find no online evidence of the footage earlier than 17 April. It would be impossible for the video to show “imported” Mozambicans being “processed” to vote in South Africa’s elections as the voters’ roll was closed almost two months before.

Second, voting in South Africa requires a green barcoded ID book, smart-card ID or temporary ID certificate. The country does not have a separate voters’ card.

A country that does is Mozambique.

The CNE and STAE logos on the man in the video’s blue vest belong to Mozambique’s Comissão Nacional de Eleições (Portuguese for national electoral commission) and Secretariado Técnico de Administração Eleitoral (technical secretariat for election management). STAE is responsible for voter registration under the supervision of CNE.

Mozambique is set to hold national, provincial and presidential elections on 9 October.

On 30 March, CNE-STAE launched a cross-border voter registration drive with the aim of registering 200,000 Mozambican citizens living in South Africa. The drive focuses on the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, which border Mozambique, as well as Gauteng.

By 21 April, some 136,000 Mozambicans in South Africa had been registered to vote in their country’s 9 October elections. The process ends on 28 April.

The video shows a CNE-STAE registration station issuing Mozambican voters’ cards to Mozambicans in South Africa.

Laxton voter registration kit not used in South Africa

And the video itself offers two more bits of evidence that the claim is false.

The electronic equipment (at the 1:33 minute mark) are mobile voter registration kits supplied to CNE-STAE by the China-based Laxton Group, which specialises in election and identity technology. Photos of the kit can also be seen here and here.

The Laxton kit is not used to register voters for South African elections.

The document being printed (at the 1:45 minute mark) is headed “República de Moçambique, Comissão Nacional de Eleições, Secretariado Técnico de Administração Eleitoral.” It includes the emblem and flag of Mozambique. And although larger, it resembles the Mozambican voters’ card.

Even Facebook users spreading the claim admit it is false. One of the earliest instances, posted on 18 April, begins with the usual “MOZAMBIQUE CITIZENS IMPORTED FROM THEIR HOMES …”

But it ends with an equally uppercased: “I DON’T CAR IF IT’S TO VOTE IN MOZAMBIQUE IN OCTOBER, WHY IS SOUTH AFRICA INVOLVED?”

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