Photo showing US president nuzzling SA counterpart is doctored

Published on July 18, 2024 at 10:31
3 min read
By Erin FLANAGAN, AFP Africa

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been under pressure since his ruling party, the African National Congress, lost its outright parliamentary majority in the country’s June elections. Ramaphosa, who has long dealt with accusations of being a “Western puppet,” faces criticism over the country’s high violent crime rates, lacklustre economy, and a crippling energy crisis. Social media users shared an image of US President Joe Biden standing behind Ramaphosa with his hands on the South African president’s shoulders in a tender embrace. But the image is doctored: the photo was altered by merging two unrelated images.

“This is how the West and Europe romance their African puppets, they don’t hide it anymore,” reads a post published on X on July 16, 2024.

A screenshot of the altered post, taken on July 17, 2024

Shared 1,000 times, the post includes two photos of Biden - one with the leader of Kenya William Ruto and another with Ramaphosa.

The first image shows Biden standing behind Ruto who is sitting at a desk in the White House.

This photo is an official image from Ruto’s state visit in May to the United States (archived here).

A video posted to the State House Kenya YouTube channel shows the moment Ruto sat in the Oval Office chair (archived here).

The second image shows Biden with his hands on Ramaphosa’s shoulders, in what looks like a tender embrace. The South African president’s eyes are closed.

But the image has been doctored using two unrelated photos.

Altered image

Using a reverse image search, AFP Fact Check found the original photo of Biden, who was vice president at the time, leaning on the wife of the former US defence secretary in 2015 (archived here).

A comparison of the original photo (left) and the altered image

Biden is in the same position in both photos and the same flags are visible behind his head.

AFP Fact Check found the image of Ramaphosa by carrying out another reverse image search.

A screenshot of the image from local media (left) and the altered image

The photo was published in local news articles in 2020, after Ramaphosa was seen with his eyes closed at the funeral of Ntate Richard Maponya, a prominent South African businessman (archived here).

In both images, Ramaphosa is wearing the same pin and tie, though in the altered photo his position is flipped.

The original image of Ramaphosa with his eyes closed has widely circulated on social media since it was taken, often shared by his critics (archived here).

Leaders under pressure

Both Ramaphosa and Ruto have been under immense political pressure in recent months.

Damaged by graft scandals and a poor economic record, Ramaphosa’s ANC lost its absolute parliamentary majority for the first time in three decades in a May 29 vote, where it won only 40 percent of the ballot (archived here).

The ANC’s fall from grace comes against a backdrop of high violent crime rates, a lacklustre economy and a crippling energy crisis (archived here).

Kenya, meanwhile, has been rocked by ongoing anti-tax bill protests that have metastasized into anti-government protests targeting Ruto (archived here).

Youth-led protests in Kenyan are calling on Ruto to resign (Simon MAINA / AFP)

Ruto took the drastic decision to dismiss the majority of his cabinet over the demonstrations, though protestors are still calling on him to resign.

Both men have faced accusations of being “Western puppets” by their detractors over close relationships with countries like the United States and the United Kingdom (archived here and here).

South Africa’s government and the ANC are close to Russia and China. All three countries are members of the BRICS group of emerging economies (archived here).

The country and ANC government are also fiercely critical of Israel, a close ally to many Western countries, including the United States (archived here).

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