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  • 2021-11-04 (xsd:date)
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  • Video of ballot box clash shows 2019 incident, unrelated to recent local elections in South Africa (en)
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  • A video showing a confrontation about the handling of South African election ballot boxes is being shared on social media in the wake of local elections, leading users to believe it shows recent events. However, the posts are misleading; the video has been online since 2019 when the country held general elections. The Facebook post , published on November 1, 2021, as South Africa went to the polls for local government elections, includes a 40-second video of a man wearing an Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party T-shirt berating an election official who is carrying three large Independent Election Commission (IEC) ballot boxes in a parking lot. The EFF-clad man interrogates the official about transporting the boxes without a police escort to ensure the integrity of the votes. The official tries to respond but after failing to get a word in, he eventually walks away. A short text superimposed on the video reads: Are you ready to celebrate the winning of ANC. The African National Congress (ANC) has ruled South Africa for the last 27 years. It is voting time in corrupt South Africa! reads the post’s caption, giving the impression the video is linked to an incident from the recent local elections. A screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, taken on November 2, 2021 A reverse image search of keyframes from the video using the verification tool InVID-WeVerify found the clip has been online for at least two years. AFP Fact Check found a tweet from May 8, 2019 , by United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa, that features the same video. Empty the ballot boxes and then count the ballot papers. Ask a higher structure of the IEC to supply the correct number of the allocated ballots of this VD, reads Holomisa’s post. Empty the ballot boxes and then count the ballot papers. Ask a higher structure of the IEC to supply the correct number of the allocated ballots of this VD. pic.twitter.com/jFnUeLVvO3 — Bantu Holomisa (@BantuHolomisa) May 8, 2019 AFP Fact Check also found an article from May 8, 2019, titled: WATCH: Official gets ‘caught’ by EFF carrying ballot boxes without a security escort. A screenshot of the Citizen’s article, taken on November 4, 2021 According to the article, the video trended online on May 8, 2019 ( here and here ), but the details surrounding the incident were unknown. AFP Fact Check contacted the IEC and will update this fact check should we get a response. November 4, 2021 The country section in the metadata was updated to reflect South Africa (en)
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