IN SHORT: The uMkhonto weSizwe Party has attracted much attention since it entered the South African political arena in September 2023. But a video of former US president Donald Trump encouraging South Africans to vote for the new kid on the block is fake.
Has former US president Donald Trump endorsed uMkhonto weSizwe, South Africa’s newest political party? A low-res video circulating on social media since early March 2024 suggests that he has.
In the clip, Trump appears to say:
Greetings, all South Africans. My name is president Donald Trump. I urge all South Africans to vote for uMkhonto weSizwe May 29th. The African National Congress of Cyril Ramaphosa has failed all South Africans. With this new backed party by president Jacob Zuma, all South Africans will matter. Vote M …
The video then abruptly cuts out.
South Africans are set to vote on 29 May in what are slated to be the country’s most pivotal national and provincial elections in 30 years. Opinion polls suggest that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) could lose the parliamentary majority it has held since 1994.
The new uMkhonto weSizwe Party takes its name – “spear of the nation” in isiZulu – from the ANC’s military wing during the struggle against apartheid. The MK Party’s profile was boosted when former ANC president Jacob Zuma endorsed it and began campaigning on its behalf in December 2023.
On 26 March 2024, the ANC lost a court bid to have the electoral commission’s registration of MK Party declared invalid. The two parties are currently in another legal battle over who owns the uMkhonto weSizwe name and logo.
One opinion poll suggests that in KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma’s home province, the ANC could lose half its votes to the MK Party in the upcoming elections.
But does the circulating video show Trump urging South Africans to vote for the MK Party? We checked.
Another fake made with Parrot AI
A closer look at the video shows that the audio doesn’t match the movement of Trump’s lips.
Africa Check took screenshots of the video and ran them through a reverse image search. This revealed that the viral clip was taken from a 2017 interview with Trump by the US broadcaster NBC News. The MK Party was only registered in September 2023.
The angle of Trump’s face, as well as his tie and the flag pin on his jacket, are the same. The background shows the same presidential flag of the US.
In the 13-minute NBC video, Trump says nothing about uMkhonto weSizwe. The viral video is fake.
It was probably created by Parrot AI, which sells itself as a “celebrity voice generator”.
Africa Check recently debunked another fake video, using the same NBC clip, in which Trump appears to berate Nigerians for criticising president Bola Tinubu. That video includes the Parrot AI logo.
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