Africa Check
No, your life insurance is not ‘null and void’ if you get a Covid-19 vaccine
18th June 2021 "I hope you are aware that if you get the Covid vaccine, it basically renders your life insurance null and void. Because it is experimental," reads... →
Murder, VIPs and theft: Fact-checking five claims by Gun Owners South Africa
17th June 2021 Proposed changes to the primary law that governs who can own guns in South Africa and how they are used has set off spirited debate, drawing in... →
Is Nigeria’s central bank governor on the money about health insurance and out-of-pocket payments?
10th June 2021 Nigeria’s top banker has urged the government and private players to work together to improve healthcare in the country. Not enough Nigerians are... →
Do ‘over a million’ Africans die in road accidents each year? No, global figure
4th June 2021 Do “over a million Africans die in road accidents every year”? That was the statistic shared by the BBC’s Focus on Africa podcast. “The World... →
Is well-known Nigerian doctor correct about malnutrition in women and children?
18th May 2021 Malnutrition is hurting growth in Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu said at an event focused on nutrition policy.... →
Russian and Chinese Covid-19 jabs better? South Africa’s EFF wrong to compare vaccines
12th May 2021 Countries around the world have been racing to vaccinate their populations against Covid-19. South Africa’s programme started on 17 February 2021.... →
Top official gets it wrong: Kenya nowhere near seventh in world for Covid-19 vaccination
11th May 2021 Amid concerns about vaccine hesitancy in Kenya, on 4 May 2021 the government said it had administered jabs to 887 000 people, two months into its... →
As Twitter opts for Ghana office, Nigeria’s top political parties cast the blame. But did they get it right?
7th May 2021 Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s decision to base his company’s Africa headquarters in Ghana continues to be debated in Nigeria. Twitter said it was... →
No, more than 99% of Nigerian children under 5 don’t die every year
30th April 2021 To mark World Health Day in April 2021, Nigerian non-profit organisation Connected Development made an alarming claim about child mortality. “In... →
Nairobi’s Covid-19 positive cases tie Kenyan president, health ministry and major media house in knots
22nd April 2021 Thousands in Kenya were stranded in April 2021 after the police blocked major roads around the capital Nairobi to enforce a Covid-19 curfew.... →
South Africa the 12th biggest source of greenhouse gases? Yes, but that’s not the only measure that matters
19th April 2021 “South Africa is the world’s 12th-biggest source of greenhouse gases,” Bloomberg Green, the environment section of financial website Bloomberg,... →
No, Kenya’s debt not at ‘100% of GDP’ as economist claimed
13th April 2021 In April 2021 the International Monetary Fund found itself in an online storm as thousands of Kenyans protested a US$2.34-billion loan it had... →
No, 60% of women in Nigeria don’t give birth at traditional attendants’ facilities
1st April 2021 Traditional medicine could improve healthcare in Nigeria, experts told a February 2021 meeting of alternative medicine practitioners. One of them,... →
Does agriculture account for nearly half of Nigeria’s economy and provide a living for ‘90% of rural dwellers’?
26th March 2021 To help leave a legacy in Africa, US president Joe Biden should focus on the continent’s economy, said an online news publication. For Nigeria in... →
Six South African cities in top 20 of world’s ‘most dangerous’? Crime index based on website users’ opinions
24th March 2021 South Africa has a reputation for high rates of crime and violence. And now six of its cities have been named among the most dangerous in the... →
South African MP wrongly claims 70% of informal economy ‘in hands of non-citizens’
16th March 2021 The debate on South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address covered many topics, ranging from gender-based violence to... →
Debating the state of South Africa: did members of parliament get their facts straight?
16th March 2021 “Please keep your masks on and sit in your designated area,” Amos Masondo, chairperson of South Africa’s national council of provinces, told the... →
Catholic doctors in Kenya pushed startling claims about Covid-19. Here’s why they’re wrong
11th March 2021 A day after Kenya took delivery of a million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for Covid-19, a group of Catholic doctors weighed in. The... →
Three claims about Kenya’s billion dollar debt to China, checked
9th March 2021 The periodical was correct that China was by far Kenya’s largest bilateral creditor, owed nearly five times as much as the next nearest creditor,... →
Yes, malaria kills more kids under five than in any other age group. Here’s why
25th February 2021 The discovery in Africa of a drug-resistant strain of the parasite that causes malaria is a new threat, as the region continues to battle Covid-19.... →
Chickens and the economy: fact-checking Ramaphosa's #SONA2021
18th February 2021 Ramaphosa didn’t shy away from economic realities, correctly claiming the unemployment rate has reached a “staggering” 30.8% and that the economy... →
Highest health spending in Kenya? Baringo county governor makes misleading claims
17th February 2021 In January 2021 Baringo county governor Stanley Kiptis argued against striking health workers’ pay demands. He made three claims. His claim that... →
Is Johannesburg the most radioactive city in the world?
16th February 2021 South African advocacy groups have claimed Johannesburg is the most radioactive city on Earth, because of the mining of uranium-rich gold fields.... →
How many Nigerians abroad? And how much cash do they send home?
10th February 2021 After Nigeria’s central bank announced people receiving money from abroad could be paid in US dollars, the Prompt website published an article on... →
Anatomy of a disinformation campaign: The who, what and why of deliberate falsehoods on Twitter
9th February 2021 In recent years, the UK’s Oxford Internet Institute has tracked the manipulation of public opinion online. Since 2018, South Africa has featured on... →
What’s the harm in a hashtag? Spotting disinformation in the wild
9th February 2021 Unlike the spreaders of misinformation, who don’t mean harm, disinformation actors knowingly cause damage to people, social groups, organisations... →
How to avoid disinformation traps on Twitter
9th February 2021 Bell Pottinger is dead, but disinformation that preys on divisions in South Africa remains. Some say social media users should ignore... →
Taxi industry transports majority of South Africa’s public commuters, but exact number of passengers unclear
3rd February 2021 While definitions of “commuter” vary slightly, the most recent data from Stats SA supports the National Taxi Alliance’s estimate and shows nearly... →
Ousted Nairobi governor wrong to say Kenya president has borrowed ‘over KSh8 trillion in eight years’
27th January 2021 Ousted Nairobi governor Mike Sonko took to social media in January 2021 to defend his record in office, giving a lengthy list of his supposed... →
ANC Youth League promotes debunked steam and pH ‘cures’ for Covid-19
19th January 2021 The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) in Tshwane, South Africa, came under fire in the second week of January 2021 for sharing false... →
South Africa’s Victims of Crime Survey adds useful insights
4th January 2021 Police crime statistics provide only limited insight into the nature of crime and violence. This is not a uniquely South African problem. The same... →
‘Almost 100%’ of restaurant workers in South Africa are foreign? Official data disproves finance minister Mboweni’s claim
7th December 2020 In April 2020 South African finance minister Tito Mboweni made a startling claim about the number of foreigners working in South Africa’s... →
No South African matric rewrite due to paper leaks, varsity acceptance unchanged
3rd December 2020 “I was watching CNN news today and they said that the matric class of 2020 will rewrite all their exams in January due to the Leaking of papers... →
Verifying Kenyan governors’ claims of progress
3rd December 2020 While 2020 has been an uncertain year for many, Kenyan politicians remained predictable in at least one way: playing up their achievements in... →
15-million ‘undocumented foreigners’ in South Africa? Herman Mashaba wrong again
20th November 2020 Herman Mashaba, former mayor of South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, caused a social media stir in November 2020 when he tweeted that there... →
48 000 potholes on Johannesburg’s roads? That’s not nearly the whole story
20th November 2020 Complaining about potholes is a local pastime for Johannesburg residents. Hop onto Twitter, for example, and you’ll find photos of pockmarked roads... →
Fact-checked: Kenya president’s 2020 state of the nation address
17th November 2020 In November 2020 Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta reported on the state of the nation, nearly one and a half years since the last such address. The... →
#EndSARS protests: Comparing Nigeria’s health and education spending to cost of lawmaker upkeep
13th November 2020 Nigeria saw major protests over police brutality and weak governance in October 2020, with young people demanding reforms. During and after the... →
Kenya’s last economic recession was in 2002, not 1992 as major TV station claimed
13th November 2020 Kenya was one of a clutch of African countries whose 2020 economic growth could “remain positive” even as it slowed substantially, the World Bank... →
Donald Trump’s ‘foreign policy’: Fact-checking US$166bn China-Africa trade claim
6th November 2020 In an October 2020 online article, South Africa’s Mail & Guardian said that while US president Donald Trump’s mission was to make America great,... →
Donald Trump’s ‘foreign policy’: Fact-checking US$166bn China-Africa trade claim
3rd November 2020 In an October 2020 online article, South Africa’s Mail & Guardian said that while US president Donald Trump’s mission was to make America great,... →
