S. African police images show 2022 bust, not opposition making fake IDs

"EFF Office in Hillbrow is manufacturing fake South African ID's in big numbers, so that Zimbos and Nigerians will vote for EFF in 2024, that's the reason why EFF is fighting Operation Dudula because Operation Dudula is actually disturbing EFF vision," reads a Facebook post published on January 6, 2024.

The EFF is one of South Africa’s main opposition parties and Operation Dudula is a newly registered political party – on the heels of a movement of the same name launched in 2022 – campaigning on an anti-immigrant platform. Dudula means "push back" in Zulu.  

The post includes a link and three pictures showing various identity documents including passports, licenses, traffic registrations and bank cards spread across a bed and a tiled floor.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post published on January 6, 2022

The link redirects to a near-identical viral post published on X on April 15, 2022.

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Screenshot of the X post published on April 15, 2022

The 2022 claim was published by an account notorious for using misogynistic language and impersonating an influencer by misappropriating her profile picture (archived here and here).

Unrelated raid

By running a reverse image search, AFP Fact Check found that the main image in the false posts was taken from a South African Police Service (SAPS) statement about a raid, which took place on April 14, 2022 (archived here).  

According to the press release, officers received a tip-off about a suspect producing fraudulent identity documents at an address in Hillbrow, Johannesburg.

The statement said the police found a 47-year-old Zimbabwean national in the flat with more than 95 South African IDs, birth certificates, passports, bank statements, Covid-19 certificates and other essential documents.

The statement made no mention of the EFF party. 

South African media reports (including here and here) also featured the other two pictures in their coverage of the April 2022 raid (archived here and here)

SAPS spokesman Mavela Masondo confirmed to AFP Fact Check that the police took the pictures and supplied them to the media.

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Screenshots of 2022 reports that featured two of the images

In South Africa, individuals – often Home Affairs officials – regularly make headlines for being caught creating fraudulent identity documents for undocumented people. Read more on this here and here (archived here and here). 

Why EFF party?

EFF leader Julius Malema often speaks out against xenophobia (here and here) in support of a pan-African approach. His critics media mockingly label foreign nationals as "Malema’s brothers" on social media (archived here, here and here).

Malema has also received criticism for encouraging undocumented immigrants to find "creative ways" to enter the country in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, when borders were closed (archived here).

Border security and anti-migrant rhetoric have already proven to be hot-button issues ahead of the elections, which are slated for sometime during mid-2024 (archived here and here).

AFP Fact Check has previously debunked out-of-context claims about Malema and his stance on immigrants.