Footage shows small plane flown in South Africa by Zambian pilot, not Ethiopian woman
- Published on August 28, 2025 at 11:22
- 4 min read
- By Tolera FIKRU GEMTA, AFP Ethiopia
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Social media users in Ethiopia are quick to share positive accounts of local achievements, but sometimes these exploits are embellished online, or are even outright false. Posts published on Facebook and TikTok pages claim to show an Ethiopian woman who built a small plane by converting a three-wheeled scooter. However, this is false: The video shows a Zambian pilot taking off from Wonderboom National Airport in Pretoria, South Africa. Additional clips of buildings in Addis Ababa were added to the video to promote an Ethiopian real estate business.
The post was shared on August 14, 2025 and contains a 60-second video with a text overlay in Amharic that reads: “Here is an Ethiopian woman who converted Bajaj into a plane.”
A bajaj is a three-wheel scooter widely used for public transport in Ethiopia.
“May God help her to succeed,” adds the post, which has been shared more than 80 times with hashtags promoting real estate in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
The same post was also published on TikTok on the same day and has been shared more than 230 times.
The first 20 seconds of the video shows a woman pulling a small plane onto a runway, boarding and taking off. There is also an aerial view of the location for a few seconds.
The remaining part of the clip then shows roads and buildings. Ethiopian music plays throughout the video.
The Facebook and TikTok accounts where the claim was published also feature content promoting the sale of property in Addis Ababa.
However, the video does not show an Ethiopian inventor who built a plane by converting a three-wheeler.
Zambian pilot
AFP Fact Check used the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video.
The results revealed that the first 20 seconds of the video showing a woman flying was originally published on a TikTok account called “@Namweziiii”on June 29, 2025 (archived here).
@namweziiii_ I was the only one in the airspace… so peaceful ❤️✈️ #namwezi#pilotsoftiktok#flight#aviation♬ The Night Is Still Young - Nicki Minaj
“I was the only one in the airspace… so peaceful,” reads the caption.
The account belongs to Namwezi Chisha, a Zambian woman who qualified as a pilot in South Africa.
Contacted by AFP Fact Check, Chisa confirmed the opening 20 seconds of footage seen in the edited video shows her flying a plane.
“Yes, that is me in that video and that is my video,” Chisa said in an email.
“The clips of the buildings were not part of my original video, but the flying part is mine,” she added.
Chisa said the footage of her flying was taken on June 25, 2025, at Wonderboom National Airport in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital where she now lives.
However, the footage circulating online in Ethiopia was edited by adding images of buildings in Addis Ababa, visible on Google Maps.
The white buildings with brown roofs seen 22 seconds into the edited video are part of the Goro Hills housing development, while the grey buildings that follow belong to the Flintstone Homes estate.
Both housing developments are found on Gro Road along which extensive construction has taken place in recent years.
Google satellite imagery still shows bare spaces between the various developments, although much of the land has since been greened, as seen in the edited video at the 27 second mark.
Disinformation in Ethiopia is increasingly used to influence political narratives and attract followers on social media for financial gain in Ethiopia (archived here).
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