A meme doing the rounds on Facebook in November 2020 quotes South Africa’s minister of basic education, Angie Motshekga, as saying: “Whites forced education down our throats, it’s actually not our thing.”
It has been shared hundreds of times. Is there any truth to it?
The Facebook post does not include a source or any details on where and when Motshekga supposedly made the comment.
One Facebook user commented that the quote was from a June 2018 press conference but Africa Check could find no evidence of this.
References to the quote online all link back to the known fake news website NewsUpdatesSA. The website was exposed by the news site News24 in 2018 for publishing “blatantly fake articles” and using “controversial clickbait headlines”.
While the NewsUpdatesSA site no longer exists, screenshots of its content are still doing the rounds online.
If the quote had been correct, it is safe to assume it would have been widely reported on by credible news organisations. It has not.
When in doubt, and before sharing, use a search engine to check whether a piece of content is factual, or disinformation. – Africa Check
It has been shared hundreds of times. Is there any truth to it?
Traced to fake news site
The Facebook post does not include a source or any details on where and when Motshekga supposedly made the comment.
One Facebook user commented that the quote was from a June 2018 press conference but Africa Check could find no evidence of this.
References to the quote online all link back to the known fake news website NewsUpdatesSA. The website was exposed by the news site News24 in 2018 for publishing “blatantly fake articles” and using “controversial clickbait headlines”.
While the NewsUpdatesSA site no longer exists, screenshots of its content are still doing the rounds online.
If the quote had been correct, it is safe to assume it would have been widely reported on by credible news organisations. It has not.
When in doubt, and before sharing, use a search engine to check whether a piece of content is factual, or disinformation. – Africa Check
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Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
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