“White people now finally excluded from the South African job market,” reads the headline of an article on the site South Africa Today.
The 2014 article claims the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Amendment Bill “eliminates all white people including the disabled” from the job market.
The article is still being shared on Facebook in South Africa.
The bill, introduced in 2011, was aimed at the sustainable economic empowerment of all black South Africans, particularly women, workers, youth, people with disabilities and people living in rural areas. The bill said this could be achieved by:
It also sought to expand on the definition of “black people” to include “Africans, Coloureds, and Indians who are citizens of the Republic of South Africa”.
The bill became law in January 2014. Neither the bill nor the final act say that white people should not be given work or be “excluded from the job market”.
South Africa Today is a known misinformation site. It has no contact information or “about” page. But a 2018 investigation by News24 revealed that the site is run by a South African living in Thailand.
The KnowNews tool, developed by non-profit Media Monitoring Africa, alerts readers to the credibility of websites.
It says this about South Africa Today: “WARNING. This site may contain dodgy news. Think twice about trusting any story. Think thrice about sharing.” – Africa Check
The 2014 article claims the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Amendment Bill “eliminates all white people including the disabled” from the job market.
The article is still being shared on Facebook in South Africa.
Bill introduced in 2011
The bill, introduced in 2011, was aimed at the sustainable economic empowerment of all black South Africans, particularly women, workers, youth, people with disabilities and people living in rural areas. The bill said this could be achieved by:
- increasing the number of black people who manage, own and control businesses
- skills development
- equal representation in the workplace
- investment in businesses owned or managed by black people
It also sought to expand on the definition of “black people” to include “Africans, Coloureds, and Indians who are citizens of the Republic of South Africa”.
The bill became law in January 2014. Neither the bill nor the final act say that white people should not be given work or be “excluded from the job market”.
Untrustworthy website
South Africa Today is a known misinformation site. It has no contact information or “about” page. But a 2018 investigation by News24 revealed that the site is run by a South African living in Thailand.
The KnowNews tool, developed by non-profit Media Monitoring Africa, alerts readers to the credibility of websites.
It says this about South Africa Today: “WARNING. This site may contain dodgy news. Think twice about trusting any story. Think thrice about sharing.” – Africa Check
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
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.
Further Reading
Governments in Africa have doubled ‘false news’ laws, to little effect. Another way is possible
Since 2016, the 11 countries we studied nearly doubled their laws and regulations on misinformation. There is little to show for it.
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