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Videos supposedly showing ‘carnage of foreigners’ unlikely from SA

This article is more than 7 years old

Two graphic videos supposedly showing South Africans attacking and killing foreign migrants are being shared widely on Facebook.

In recent weeks xenophobic violence has broken out in South Africa, with violence reported in Johannesburg and Pretoria.

A reader asked Africa Check to verify the authenticity of the videos, which were posted by a Facebook user called Didier Ovni Konzoli. At the time of publishing this fact-check, his post had been shared over 8,000 times. The post can be viewed here. (Warning: The videos contain graphic and disturbing images.)

Africa Check used online tools - including Amnesty International’s YouTube Data View, Google Reverse Image Search and Google Translate - to track down the videos’ source.

Video posted to YouTube in June 2016


Africa Check managed to locate the video posted first - showing a man being attacked and stabbed in what appears to be an empty warehouse - on YouTube, where it appears to have been posted for the first time more than 8 months ago. (Watch it here.)

The video’s title - “Yon Group brésilien tiye ayisyen sa ak kout kouto”- is roughly translated by Google Translate from Haitian Creole to “Group A Brazilian killed this Haitian and stabbed”.

Africa Check has contacted the person who uploaded the image to confirm its source. At the time of publishing, he had not responded. (Note: We will update this report if they do.)

Man stoned and beaten


In the second video, a crowd watches as a man’s lifeless body is stoned and beaten.

Online tools point to the video first being posted on YouTube on 24 September 2016 (video here). It was uploaded by Dal Jire, which describes itself as a “24 hours News Channel” providing Somali news and videos.

This time, Google Translate had more trouble with the video’s title. It identified the language as Somali and translated it to “Rock and Yaambo Oromo Ethiopian troops killed a ‘please beware”.

Africa Check has contacted Dal Jire to confirm the source of the video. We will update this report if they respond.

Conclusion: Videos’ source unclear but unlikely from SA


The violent videos shared over 8,000 times on Facebook and supposedly showing xenophobic attacks are most likely not from South Africa.

Online tools show that the videos were probably posted to YouTube in June and September 2016, respectively.

Africa Check was unable to verify when or where exactly the videos were first filmed. However, no publically available evidence points towards these videos depicting scenes from South Africa.

Do you know when and where these videos were filmed? Get in touch on Facebook or Twitter.

 

Additional reading

 

https://africacheck.org/factsheets/guide-how-to-spot-fakes-and-hoaxes-online

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