Fraudsters often use Facebook to advertise fake jobs and learnerships to unemployed people – often to con them out of an “application fee”. And Africa Check has exposed dozens of these scams.
An ad offering learnerships at South Africa’s Khanye Colliery in 2020 was recently posted on Facebook. And it was tagged as possibly false by the social network’s fact-checking system.
But it turns out that this time, the ad is not a scam.
Khanye Colliery is an open-cast coal mine in Bronkhortspruit, in Gauteng province. It’s the “flagship” mine of Canyon Coal, a South African coal exploration, mining and processing company.
A learnership is an apprenticeship recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority.

The ad – and others like it – also appears on Canyon Coal’s website, under the header “Khanye Colliery bursary, learnership & internship applications 2020”.
Africa Check spoke to Nomfundo Mkhwebani, human resources administrator at Canyon Coal.
Mkhwebani confirmed that the learnerships are real, and advertised on Canyon Coal’s official Facebook and Twitter pages. The learnerships start in 2020. – Butchie Seroto
An ad offering learnerships at South Africa’s Khanye Colliery in 2020 was recently posted on Facebook. And it was tagged as possibly false by the social network’s fact-checking system.
But it turns out that this time, the ad is not a scam.
Khanye Colliery is an open-cast coal mine in Bronkhortspruit, in Gauteng province. It’s the “flagship” mine of Canyon Coal, a South African coal exploration, mining and processing company.
A learnership is an apprenticeship recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority.

Canyon Coal advertising on social media
The ad – and others like it – also appears on Canyon Coal’s website, under the header “Khanye Colliery bursary, learnership & internship applications 2020”.
Africa Check spoke to Nomfundo Mkhwebani, human resources administrator at Canyon Coal.
Mkhwebani confirmed that the learnerships are real, and advertised on Canyon Coal’s official Facebook and Twitter pages. The learnerships start in 2020. – Butchie Seroto
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.
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