Video shows mayhem at Kenyan funeral, not SA political party's birthday bash

Published on December 5, 2024 at 15:26
3 min read
By Tendai DUBE, AFP South Africa

A year ago, former South African president Jacob Zuma launched the uMkhonto WeSizwe (MK) party and contested the 2024 general election in May, securing the third-highest number of votes on the national ballot. As MK prepared to mark its first anniversary as a party, an X post shared a clip claiming it showed chaos erupting at one of the official celebrations in late November. But AFP Fact Check found the footage was filmed in Kenya where a mob had stormed a burial ceremony. There were no reports of violence at any of the MK pre-anniversary celebrations. The official bash takes place on December 15.

In the 20-second clip, chaos ensues when people hurl plastic chairs at moving SUVs while some try to smash the cars’ windows.

“BREAKING NEWS: Choas erupts at the MK party 1st year anniversary in Ekurhuleni yesterday (sic),” wrote the X account on December 1, 2024.

“The supreme leader of the MK party Jacob Butternut head Zuma was quickly whisked away by security detail,” adds the post, which has been liked and reposted hundreds of times, and uses a common pejorative to describe Zuma.

A screenshot of the false X post, taken on December 3, 2024

Despite users disputing the post's claim about the scenes in the video, the author counters each remark with insolent replies.

AFP Fact Check’s investigation found that the footage was filmed at a recent Kenyan funeral.

Kenyan commotion

A reverse image search of video keyframes led to a clip published on the official YouTube channel of Kenyan broadcaster Citizen TV Kenya on November 28, 2024 (archived here).

The news outlet reported that former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua had been forced to flee an angry mob that stormed a burial service he was attending in Kiambu County.

Other major Kenyan media including The Nation also covered the incident (archived here).

AFP Fact Check compared the Citizen TV Kenya video with the one circulating on social media and found they were identical.

Screenshot comparison of the false X video (left) and the Citizen TV Kenya video, taken on December 4, 2024

Gachagua was about to address mourners when the mob attempted to bring down the tent he was seated beneath.

The chaos ensued when former Limuru parliamentarian Peter Mwathi accused the state of harassing Gachagua by withdrawing his entire security detail and trying to remove Gachagua as deputy after barely two years in office.

As Kenyans are well aware earlier this week the government withdrew the final aspects of my security that was in place after the impeachment process we are contesting.

However we did not raise issue with this decision by government although expectations were that any Kenyan pic.twitter.com/584YkEmJSY
— Rigathi Gachagua (@rigathi) November 28, 2024

Gachagua was replaced by Kithure Kindiki in October after Kenyan senators voted to impeach him on five of 11 charges.

MK anniversary launch

As the MK party counts down to its official first anniversary on December 15, 2024, it has already held smaller rallies in three of the country’s provinces (archived here).

Zuma addressed supporters at one of the early events in the city of Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg.

H.E. President Zuma at the Gauteng 1st Anniversary celebration anniversary at Vosloorus Stadium. #ReclaimingSouthAfrica #MKPartyAnniversary #FillUpMabhida #UnityInDiversity pic.twitter.com/wTQWNQY9Ed
— uMkhonto WeSizwe Party (Official) (@MkhontoweSizwex) November 30, 2024

MK campaigned against Zuma's former party, the ruling African National Congress (ANC), in the 2024 general election and emerged as the country’s third-largest party. The ANC lost its outright majority for the first time and entered into a coalition government (archived here).

AFP Fact Check has previously debunked false claims about MK here and here.