Fact Check: Did South African leader ask his followers to kill Indians and whites?
Social media users are claiming that a black leader in South Africa has urged his followers to and kill Indians and whites, and set their house on fire.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 28 July 2021 10:09 AM IST
Hyderabad: Social media users are claiming that a black leader in South Africa has urged his followers to and kill Indians and whites, and set their house on fire.
"Go and kill Indians and then burn their houses. Go and kill Whites, and then burn their houses (sic)," said a Facebook user quoting a black leader.
More such posts can be seen here
Fact Check:
The claim is False.
NewsMeter performed Reverse Image searches using the keyframes of the video. We found a full version of the interview on the Facebook page of EThekwini Municipality. The video was streamed live on July 14, 2021. The description of the video mentioned that the person in the video is EThekwini Mayor Councilor Mxolisi Kaunda who has appealed for calm and stability in EThekwini following public unrest.
When we watched the video, we found that the viral clip in circulation had been cropped and was taken out of context. In the video, it is evident that Kaunda was talking about an audio note that was being circulated on social media.
Text in bold was edited out of the viral video. At 00:10 the time code of the video, Kaunda said: "There was a voice note that was being circulated on social networks. That voice note said, go and loot all shops and malls everywhere. Once you are done with that looting, go to Indian areas, it's not me saying that, I am saying the call was saying that. Go to Indian communities, go there and kill Indians and burn their houses. Go to White areas, go there and once you are done looting, go there and kill the White community and burn their houses. That call has landed on our ears (sic)."
We found that the video was again shared on a Facebook page on July 15, 2021. It said a manipulated video clip is being circulated on social media showing the Mayor commenting about the current violent protests. It further mentioned that some parts of the video footage, which give context to Kaunda's comments were removed.
Hence, it is evident that the video was cropped. It was presented as if Mxolisi Kaunda was inciting people to kill Indians and burn their houses.
Hence, the claim is false.
