Africa Check

Nigeria’s forest security agency not recruiting from 11 November 2025 – ignore online posts claiming otherwise

IN SHORT: The Nigeria Forest Security Service is not recruiting. Interested social media users should ignore posts encouraging them to apply from 11 November 2025, and check the service’s official ...
Africa Check

No evidence ex-president Obasanjo said Biafra separatist leader Kanu was fighting against ‘Islamisation of Nigeria’

IN SHORT: According to some Facebook posts, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo said “Nigeria would have become a completely Islamized country” without Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the ...
Africa Check

No evidence Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni is hospitalised or critically ill

IN SHORT: A claim that Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni is critically ill and in hospital is circulating on social media. However, there is no evidence to support it. Two graphics circulating on ...
Africa Check

Manipulated video shows US president Trump urging Ugandans not to forgive president Museveni until he resigns

IN SHORT: A video showing US president Donald Trump apparently urging Ugandans not to forgive their president, Yoweri Museveni, until he steps down and retires from politics has gone viral online.
Africa Check

Is Cape Town South Africa's second most dangerous city? Here's what the numbers show

There’s no denying that murder rates in South Africa are high. But two bold claims published by the Guardian still caught our ...
Africa Check

No, Tinubu’s government hasn’t introduced 5% surcharge on petrol products from January 2026

IN SHORT: Multiple Facebook posts claim that Nigerian president Bola Tinubu’s administration has introduced a 5% fuel surcharge starting January 2026, along with new tax laws. But the charge is not ...
Africa Check

Fact-checking Helen Zille’s claims about Johannesburg’s water crisis

Veteran South African politician Zille clashed with radio host Anele Mdoda, making claims about water infrastructure in Johannesburg and Cape Town. We tested them for accuracy. Zille was correct about ...
Africa Check

No, there’s no evidence that people with blood type O ‘age slower’

IN SHORT: Even if type O blood was associated with lower levels of two “inflammation markers”, this would not be evidence of slower ageing. But to make matters worse, there’s no evidence that the ...
Africa Check

PRESS RELEASE: Fact-checks on military, degree and vaccine falsehoods win big at the 2025 African Fact-Checking Awards

DAKAR. Ariel Gbaguidi, a journalist from Benin’s La Nation, won the award for fact-check of the year by a working journalist at the African Fact-Checking Awards ceremony held in Senegal on 2 October ...
Africa Check

South Africans beware, there is no ‘learnership applications and training programme’ from power utility Eskom

IN SHORT: A message circulating on social media in South Africa claims that Eskom is offering learnerships and training programmes, and urges users to apply via the provided link. However, the power ...
Africa Check

Video clip of South African politician Fikile Mbalula saying ‘we don’t have a state, we’re run by cartels’ shared out of context

IN SHORT: A short video of Fikile Mbalula, a prominent South African politician, saying the country “doesn’t have a government” and is “run by cartels” has been circulating online. But the clip has ...
Africa Check

Kenya’s Star newspaper didn’t expose ‘Kikuyu power brokers’ working to secure second term for president Ruto

IN SHORT: A newspaper column circulating online in Kenya claims that four cabinet secretaries are orchestrating a movement to secure a second term for president William Ruto. It appears to be from the ...