Police, churches, minority rights groups deny incident took place; photos show unrelated events
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on June 11, 2020 at 15:05
- Updated on June 11, 2020 at 15:11
- 4 min read
- By Tendai DUBE, AFP South Africa
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One post here has been shared more than 8,000 times since May 18, 2020. It shows two pictures, one of a white malnourished child and another of a group of white people.
It claims that “the South African police (SAPS) prevented a church from delivering 200 food parcels to the Bonaccord white squatter camp in Pretoria,” and then “confiscated all of the food parcels”.
It added that the donating church was fined R10,000 ($600).
The same claim was also shared here and here in English. But there is no evidence that the incident ever took place.
The initial post was shared in Afrikaans, which the South African Police Service refuted in a tweet on May 6, 2020.
“A post on social media claiming that police confiscated 200 food parcels that church wanted to hand out at a Bonaccord squatter camp near Pretoria, is FAKE NEWS (sic). The mentioned church has no knowledge of such an incident.”
RT #sapsHQ Beware of #FakeNews A post on social media claiming that police confiscated 200 food parcels that church wanted to hand out at a Bonaccord squatter camp near Pretoria, is FAKE NEWS. The mentioned church has no knowledge of such an incident. MEhttps://t.co/dXMfoAgGcN pic.twitter.com/IYliSIMKOx
— SA Police Service ?? (@SAPoliceService) May 6, 2020
Bon Accord is a rural suburb, north of South Africa’s administrative capital, Pretoria.
Data from social media analysis tool CrowdTangle show that the claim was first posted to Facebook on May 3, the same day as the incident was said to have taken place.
By the next day it was being actively reposted, especially among pages and groups aligned with white interests (see here and here) in South Africa.
More denials
A timeline of the data shows the claim continued to spread, despite swift rejections from the public, politicians, local newspapers, unions and even the youth wing of a minority rights organisation for Afrikaners. The claim was described as harmful and dangerous.
Lewende Lig and Ewige Lig, two churches mentioned in relation to the claim, also denied any involvement, the former in a post on May 4.
And a representative of Ewige Lig told AFP via WhatsApp: “No, it was not our church. We don't donate food parcels to Bon Accord informal settlement. We've heard about it and did our own homework [and] seems as if it was all false propaganda.”
Helpende Hand (helping hand), an institute from the Solidarity Movement focused on alleviating poverty in Afrikaans communities, also shared a post condemning the false information.
Old photos
A reverse image search on TinEye also revealed that the image of the malnourished-looking child has been online since at least March 2014.
A Daily Mail article from March 31, 2014 titled “Pregnant stepmother and father kept starving 5-year-old son in a locked closet under the stairs'” includes the image of the child.
It details how a father and pregnant stepmother in Texas were arrested after they allegedly kept their five-year-old son locked under the stairs. The mother was found guilty in December 2018 and sentenced to 28 years in prison.
The second image dates back to September 10, 2016 -- it can be seen in this Facebook post on a page asking for donations for white squatter camps in South Africa.
South Africa has been in lockdown since March 27, which has impacted access to work and the ability to buy food. Multiple organisations, private citizens and the government are providing various social relief of distress, including in the form of food parcels.
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