Unrelated arrest photo shared in hoax about South African child support fraud
- Published on July 22, 2025 at 09:15
- 3 min read
- By Tendai DUBE, AFP South Africa
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“A 35 year old woman was arrested for collecting child support money from Eight (different men for one child (sic),” reads a Facebook post published on July 12, 2025.
The post adds: “Ms Nancy Mudau from Nzhelele Biaba, Limpopo has been collecting money for 12 years from these Eight (different men who thought they are the father of her child.”
The post, shared more than 4,500 times, further claims that by the time the woman was arrested, the money had been used to pay school fees, build a home and start construction on a tavern.
The photo included in the post shows a woman facing a South African Police Service (SAPS) van, while being flanked by uniformed officers.
Similar claims were shared tens of thousands of times across media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok and X.
But the claims are false.
No case
A reverse image search of the arrest photo revealed that it was posted on the SAPS website on April 5, 2024, in connection with a drug bust in Kimberley, a city in South Africa’s Northern Cape province (archived here).
“Three adult male persons, two South Africans and one Nigerian, were arrested in Pampierstad for possession of crystal myth and one female was arrested in Hartswater for being in possession of suspected mandrax tablets,” reads the police statement.
The false posts claim that the woman was arrested in Limpopo province, approximately 1,000 kilometres from the Northern Cape, where the photo of the woman was taken (archived here).
Limpopo police also told AFP Fact Check on July 17, 2025, that they had no arrests matching the claim's description. “We do not have such a case in Limpopo,” spokesman Malesela Ledwaba said in a WhatsApp message.
2023 hoax
A keyword search for “Woman from Nzhelele, Limpopo Nancy Mudau” on Google links to unverified articles from 2023, including on West African blog sites, including here, here and here.
The hoax was reignited this year by a Facebook account called “Koos de Klerk”, which was created in June 2025 and often shares similar fake stories as clickbait with more than 197,000 followers.
Most of the posts from this account also link to a job-seeker's website or promote a WhatsApp group ostensibly with the same mission.
AFP Fact Check has previously investigated how these job scam adverts are designed to extract cash or steal personal data, taking advantage of unemployed people.
To verify advertised job opportunities, always check the company or organisation’s official website or LinkedIn page.
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