Video of SA president calling for dancing radio host’s arrest is digitally altered

“South African president orders the immediate arr£st of radio presenter Penny Ntuli and her friend for twerking on the side of a busy road, calling it an action that could distract drivers and put both motorists and themselves at risk,” reads an X post published on September 19, 2025.

The video, which has garnered millions of views and thousands of likes, features a split-screen view of two women dancing on the side of the road while Ramaphosa addresses the camera directly.

“I have seen a video of a certain radio host from our country, I think her name is Penny Ntuli, if I'm not wrong,” he appears to say.

“The cars and transits are passing by and she’s just twerking shamelessly.”

Ramaphosa purportedly adds that he is ordering Ntuli’s “immediate arrest”.

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Screenshot of the X post, taken on September 23, 2025

Similar claims circulated online, including on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Nigerian blogs.

But the video’s audio was altered to give the false impression that Ramaphosa instructed police to arrest Ntuli.

Police investigation

Using a reverse image search on screengrabs from the video, AFP Fact Check found that the footage of Ramaphosa was taken from a national address on July 14, 2025, when he announced a commission of inquiry into the South African Police Service (archived here).

As reported by AFP, a judicial commission set up by Ramaphosa to investigate explosive claims by a top cop linking politicians to criminal gangs began its public hearings two months later, on September 17, 2025 (archived here).

In both the original video of Ramaphosa and the altered version, the president is wearing the same striped black suit and red striped tie; however, the original shows clearer details with a wider frame, while the doctored clip is compressed and cropped.

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Screenshots marked by AFP to compare the altered X video (left) with the original, taken on September 24, 2025

Ramaphosa’s address predates the publication of the controversial dance video featuring Ntuli and at no point did he mention the radio host.

This means Ramaphosa’s voice was likely replaced using AI, with his lip movements manipulated to match the artificial voice, the slight discrepancies of which are evident in the altered footage.

AFP Fact Check extracted the audio from the altered video and analysed it using the InVID-WeVerify verification tool. 

The result indicated a 99 percent likelihood that the audio was artificially created.

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Screenshot of the InVID-WeVerify results, taken on September 23, 2025

Presidency spokeswoman Athi Geleba denied the claim.

“No, the president never gave such an address; it’s AI-generated,” Geleba told AFP Fact Check on September 23, 2025.

Dance clip

Ntuli published the video of the pair dancing in the emergency lane of a South African road on her Facebook page on September 8, 2025 (archived link).

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Screenshot of the dancing video on Facebook, published on September 8, 2025

The post’s geotag identifies the location as KwaZulu-Natal province.

“In whatever happens empilwen [in life], please remember you’re still young, stop worrying about everything (sic),” Ntuli’s caption reads.

A day later, South Africa’s Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) reprimanded the dancing duo (archived link).

“The RTMC is astonished by this behaviour on our national roads. Pedestrians under the NRTA [National Road Traffic Act] are prohibited on the freeways and it’s illegal,” reads a Facebook post dated September 9, 2025. 

The RTMC added that “content creators should not risk their lives for ‘LIKES’. #NizofaNina [you will die]”.

Ntuli responded to the backlash with another video — mainly in isiZulu (archived here). 

She said she and her unnamed friend stopped to take a break and admire the beautiful scenery, and ended up dancing for fun but that “it wasn’t meant to hurt anyone”. 

“I see that the hoots you were sending out on the freeway were because you didn't like what I was doing,” Ntuli said about the passing truck drivers.

The RTMC’s caution is not without merit; in South Africa, pedestrians are estimated to account for 35-40 percent of all road traffic deaths (archived link).