A video showing a gunfight has recently been shared across social media platforms, with some claims alleging that it shows what is going on in Cape Town. Tweets posted on July 8, 2021 amid protests against the arrest of former South African President Jacob Zuma suggest that the video is connected to the ongoing chaos.
Background
Jacob Zuma was on Tuesday June 29, 2021 found in contempt of court for failing to avail himself to answer accusations related to corruption cases lodged against him during his 9-year tenure as South Africa’s president. Zuma was sentenced to a 15-months jail term for this. The court gave him until Sunday, July 4 to turn himself in, after which the court granted police authority to arrest him no later than Wednesday July 7. Zuma surrendered just before the Wednesday midnight deadline.
His supporters had shown up to prevent his arrest, and even formed a ‘human-shield’ at his KwaZulu-Natal home to stop police from getting to him. The protests quickly turned violent after he turned himself in, even as the court stuck to its guns, denying his application to be released on ground that he is at a higher risk of catching COVID-19 due to his old age (79). According to news24 Zuma, like any other inmate would be eligible for parole after serving a quarter of his 15-month sentence.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday July 12 deployed military officers to KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces which have greatly been affected by the pro-Zuma protests marred by vandalism, looting and have so far led to the death of 10 people according to Bloomberg and AP.
Verification
Using the Invid tool, Piga Firimbi was able to extract images from the video. After running one of the images through the Google image reverse search, the results showed that the same video had circulated in 2019. A fact-check published by AFP on May 2, 2019 debunks the use of the video to falsely claim that it showed fights between South Africans and foreigners during the xenophobic attacks that had been going on in South Africa.
This video was initially shared on Facebook on March 26, 2019 on a post stating that a movie was being shot at Parkwood area in Johannesburg.
Verdict
Claims that the video showing a gunfight is from the recent protests in South Africa are FALSE.
This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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