Did the South African leader actually say ” Burn Indian Houses”?
She/Her
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Amidst reports of unrest created by the arrest of Former South African President, Jacob Zuma, which was a wide opening for all kinds of rage over inequality, unemployment and poverty, a video is viral in the online networking sites. The video shows a man urging to burn the Indian and White neighborhoods. It claims that the leader in the video is promoting violence against these communities. However, it was found that the video was clipped from a longer version of a speech given by eThekwini Mayor Councilor Mxolisi Kaunda. The original video was edited to create a false narrative and was clipped to disseminate the wrong information. In the longer and original version of the video, eThekwini Mayor Councilor Mxolisi Kaunda, can be seen addressing the people and calling for peace in the community. Moreover, the news turns out to be false because the viral video is a clipped version that only includes Mr. Kaunda s reading out social media messages that were being shared among rioters. The rest of the speech given by Kaunda was edited out and doesn’t show in the viral post.
A post was shared on Facebook on the 17 of July, 2021 by a user named Vishnu Adhiyogi. The caption of the post read –
“Go to Indian communities, go there and kill Indians and burn their houses”
Dear friends This is one example of what is going on against Hindus in South Africa. Why is international media silent?”.
Furthermore, multiple other Facebook and Twitter accounts shared the same video with almost similar captions.
"Go to Indian communities, go there and kill Indians and burn their houses"
This is one example of what is going on against Hindus in South Africa. Why is international media silent? pic.twitter.com/i675bcQC8K
— मुकुल यादव (यदुवंशी)🇮🇳 (@Yadavji_) July 17, 2021
TRUTH
While going through the comment section of few viral posts, several people called out the users saying that the video is a clipped one stated facts that the information is misleading. They also shared the original video on Facebook. The original video was posted on eThekwini Municipality’s Facebook page on the 14th of July, 2021. The man in the video is Mayor Councilor Mxolisi Kaunda. Kaunda was seen talking to community leaders in his area, asking them to stop all acts of violence and racism. He also asked the community leaders to work together to unite all the communities amidst ongoing violence in the country.
In the longer version of the video, Kaunda can be heard saying
“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,“. This particular video was broadcasted live on the same Facebook page.
The next day i.e. on 15 July 2021, the eThekwini Municipality’s Facebook page put out a post where they had warned the members of their community about a “manipulated video clip” that is circulating on social media and creating communal distress.
Excerpts from the Facebook post reads – “Over the past few days, I have observed a disturbing trend by some members of the public of deliberately distorting information to fuel racial tensions in the community. This is mischievous in the extreme. In this particular instance someone has used five seconds of a 30-minute speech and manipulated it to incite violence,”
In this act that clearly ignites violence against the Indian and the White communities, the Law Enforcement Agencies have been asked by the Mayor to trace the origin of the clipped video and find the motives behind. Evidently, a clipped video of Mayor Councilor Mxolisi Kaunda was shared in the online platforms with a false claim that the South African leader was for calling for violence against Indian and ‘White communities’. Thus, the viral post is fake and has a misleading content attached to it.
