MARY ALEXANDER • 18 JULY 2024

After no single political party won a clear majority in South Africa’s 29 May 2024 elections, the African National Congress (ANC) invited other parties to form a government of national unity.

The ANC scored 40.2% of the national vote and the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) 21.8%. The newcomer uMkhonto weSizwe Party, which declined to join the unity government, was third with 14.6%.

The DA also retained government of the Western Cape province.

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa announced his new unity cabinet on 30 June, with 20 of the 32 ministerial posts going to the ANC, six to the DA and six to smaller parties.

The DA’s Leon Schreiber was appointed minister of home affairs, a national department that maintains the population register and issues identity documents.

Days later, a screenshot of an odd X post seemingly by Alan Winde, the DA premier of the Western Cape, went viral on social media.*

“The DA now controls the Dept. of Home Affairs,” it reads. “Get your Digital & Medical ID at these Bank Branches. We will be prepared when the next pandemic arrives.”

It appears to have been posted on the X account @AlanWinde666, with the name Premier Alan Winde, and its profile pic shows the premier. It links to an article on banks that process ID applications.

The screenshot has been posted with – and has attracted – outraged comments. These include:

• “The DA is selling us out to the Globalists…”
• “The DA is part of the New World Order […] Things are going to get very tough by 2025 more and more freedoms being taken away.”
• “This is the same guy who was forcing vaccine down the throats of people of western cape. Now he already know there is another pandemic coming […]”
• “What is a Medical ID? And the 666 on Alan’s name. A coincidence too neh? June is in July with this GNU gig! […] COVIS was a test phase for Hell on Earth?”
• “When we said these things will happen they thought we were smoking dirty socks […] that’s your next plandemic….New world order loading…”

But did the DA’s Western Cape premier really post this?

No digital or medical IDs in South Africa

The handle of Winde’s verified X account is simply @alanwinde, not @AlanWinde666. That handle belongs to an account named, in full, Premier Alan Winde Western Cape Parody.

On the screenshot, the words “Western Cape Parody” are obscured by the follow button.

The account’s bio reads: “Sith Lord. Woke Dick-tator of WEFtern Cape DICTATORIAL Alliance. Free PALPATINE. Only an unelected one world government can save us!” It then adds: “Parody”.

Its banner is made up of images where “un” has been added to the DA’s name, to read “Undemocratic Alliance”. The images include the URL for YesCape.org, a website that promotes the secession of the Western Cape from South Africa.

And the account’s current pinned post reads, in part: “We take orders from our globalist masters (WEF and WHO), support lockdowns and vaxxine mandates, promote gender fluidity in your kids, back Ukraine (US proxy wars), promote the climate hoax and will do anything to avoid referendums.”

@AlanWinde666 published the X post in the viral screenshot on 2 July. It has been viewed some 13,500 times so far – and attracted many more outraged comments.

South Africa has two types of ID document: the old green ID book and the newer smart ID card. There is no such thing as a South African “digital ID” or “medical ID”.

Parody and satire are meant to poke fun at political and other opponents, but not mislead about those opponents’ statements. And when parody or satire is reposted as fact, it becomes disinformation.

* 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 6 August 2024

The post ‘Pandemic’ post from ‘parody’ Cape independence X account, not South Africa’s Western Cape DA premier Alan Winde appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

MARY ALEXANDER • 9 APRIL 2024
Published by Africa Check on 19 April 2024

A photo of an open-air toilet on the verge of a road running through the shacks of an informal settlement is doing the rounds on social media with the claim it’s the work of South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC).*

The toilet has no walls, roof or door. The photo shows a smiling woman looking at it.

A common caption reads: “That’s what we call Public Toilets, Big Up ANC iyasebenza.” In isiXhosa and isiZulu, “iyasebenza” can be translated as “it works” or “it is working”.

South Africa is set to hold national and provincial elections on 29 May 2024. The claim started circulating online in late February.

Opinion polls suggest the vote may be the most pivotal in 30 years, with the ANC forecast to lose the parliamentary majority it has held since 1994.

The party’s main opposition are the Democratic Alliance, the Economic Freedom Fighters and, possibly, the newcomer uMkhonto weSizwe Party, backed by popular former ANC president Jacob Zuma.

The supply of basic services such as sanitation (toilets and sewage systems) – as well as roads, housing, electricity, clean water and rubbish removal – is a hot political issue in South Africa.

Regular power blackouts known as loadshedding have plagued the country for years, and over 100 major protests against poor service delivery have erupted every year since 2009.

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

But does the photo really show an unenclosed public toilet erected by the ANC?

Open toilets in City of Cape Town informal settlements

A reverse image search reveals that the photo has been online since at least January 2010 – more than 14 years ago.

It appears in a blog post headlined: “Khayelitsha open-air toilet ‘deal’ is ludicrous!” Its caption reads: “Cllr June Frans stands next to one of the open air toilets in Khayelitsha. Their position right next to the road is very clear.”

Khayelitsha is a large township in the Western Cape province. It’s part of the City of Cape Town municipality, which includes Cape Town itself as well as surrounding towns and townships.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has governed the City of Cape Town since 2006.

The photo shows an open public toilet the DA municipal council installed in the Makhaza informal settlement of Khayelitsha in 2009.

It was one of 1,316 public toilets the DA set up in informal settlements that year, on condition that the community would build structures around them. Residents enclosed 1,265 of the toilets, leaving 51 in the open.

In 2010 the ANC took the DA to court, saying the toilets violated residents’ constitutional right to dignity. The Western Cape high court ruled in the ANC’s favour and ordered the DA to enclose the toilets.

During the case the DA claimed that when the ANC controlled the municipality from 2000 to 2005, over 4,000 open public toilets had been installed with the same condition that they be covered by residents.

In 2011 the Social Justice Coalition, which works in townships across the municipality, reported that in Khayelitsha, in some cases, “as many as 500 people are expected to share one chemical toilet”.

Nonetheless, census data shows that the Western Cape has the highest percentage of households with access to a flushing toilet. The province is governed by the DA. South Africa’s eight other provinces are under the ANC.

According to the 2022 census, 93.9% of Western Cape households have a flushing toilet, with Gauteng next at 89.7%. The lowest share is in Limpopo (35.2%) followed by Mpumalanga (54.9%).

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

The post Open public toilet installed by South Africa’s ruling African National Congress? No, photo snapped in opposition-controlled Cape Town in 2010 appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

MARY ALEXANDER • 18 MARCH 2024

A viral graphic on social media claims that eight major South African opposition parties – identified by their logos – are “standing with Israel”.*

The parties are:

• The Democratic Alliance (DA)
• ActionSA
• The Patriotic Alliance (PA)
• Vryheidsfront Plus / Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus)
• The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
• The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP)
• The Congress of the People (Cope)
• Build One South Africa (Bosa)

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

Israel lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea in the Middle East. It’s the world’s only Jewish state. The territory also includes the largely Muslim Palestine, made up of the West Bank west of the Jordan and the Gaza Strip east of the Mediterranean.

Most United Nations countries – 139 of 193 – recognise Palestine as a state.

In December 2023 South Africa’s government – led by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) – took to the World Court to accuse Israel of genocide in its war on Gaza. The war began after the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel from Gaza. Hamas has controlled the strip since 2007.

The Israel-Gaza war has so far killed a reported 31,490 Palestinians in Gaza and forced three-quarters of its population to flee their homes. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed in both territories.

South Africa is set to hold national and provincial elections on 29 May 2024. Opinion polls suggest it could be the most closely run race in 30 years. The ANC may lose the parliamentary majority it has held since South Africa’s first democratic vote, in 1994.

In the 2021 local government elections the ANC won 47.51% of the national vote. Seven of the eight parties in the graphic (except Bosa, established in 2022) won a combined 32.06%.

Do eight South African political parties, seven of them supported by almost a third of the electorate in 2021, say they “stand with Israel”?

Parties’ response to Hamas attack

The graphic first appeared online in the week after the 7 October Hamas attack and has continued to circulate since. In the days after the atttack, only five of the eight parties issued official statements.

Of the five, four –ActionSA, the ACDP, DA and FF Plus – condemned Hamas. ActionSA and the DA also called for peace between Israel and Palestine.

The IFP stopped short of condemnation, only calling on Hamas “to join the peace process”. The ANC’s response was similar, although it also said the attack was “unsurprising” and that it “stands with the people of occupied Palestine”.

The remaining three – the PA, Cope and Bosa – have been vague.

The PA appears to have no stance on the conflict.

Cope has only referred to it three times on X, in nebulous posts that indicate support for South Africa’s genocide charge against Israel. Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota also welcomed the World Court’s ruling that Israel must prevent genocide in Gaza. And in November, the party distanced itself from an official who said Cope “will stand with Israel”.

Bosa’s only reference to the war is a 29 January 2024 statement, posted on X, that a “two-state solution is the pathway to peace in Israel-Palestine conflict”.

The two-state solution

The two-state solution, in its broadest sense, proposes an end to the conflict by recognising the right of both Israel and Palestine to exist between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The idea is that 1967 borders should be recognised, based on UN resolutions 242 and 338.

The solution has been rejected by Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu.

The ANC has repeatedly said it supports the two-state solution “in terms of the 1967 borders”.

The DA’s stance is almost identical, saying it “continues to support a viable and sustainable two-state solution based on United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338”.

In January the party distanced itself from Netanyahu’s declaration that there would be no Palestinian state at the end of the war.

The two-state solution is also supported by the FF Plus (here), the IFP (here and here), ACDP (here) and Bosa (here).

Condemning Hamas for the 7 October attack does not automatically mean a party “stands with Israel”. In fact, South Africa’s ANC-led government itself condemned the attack in its genocide case against Israel.

We found that most of the eight parties have said relatively little, if anything, about the Israel-Gaza war. They’ve said more about local issues.

The only parties that could be considered, by their public statements, to be “standing with Israel” are the FF Plus (here and here) and the ACDP (here).

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

Edited version published by Africa Check on 1 March 2024.

The post Little evidence that eight major South African opposition parties ‘stand with Israel’ appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

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.