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| - Fact Check: Viral video of South African leader making racist hate speech against Indians is edited
This video is a clipped version of a longer speech where Mxolisi Kaunda, a South African leader, actually appeals to the community leaders to reject violence and racism.
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India Today Fact Check
This video is clipped and taken out of context from a longer speech where Mxolisi Kaunda, eThekwini Mayor Councillor, appeals to the community leaders in South Africa to reject violence and racism and to work together to stabilise communities.
Several parts of South Africa witnessed violence and chaos for days after the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma in a corruption case on July 7. The riot-hit areas included Durban, Pietermaritzburg, and Johannesburg -- all of which have a sizeable population of Indian expats. There were also reports of looters targeting businesses owned by Indians and Indian-origin South Africans.
In the midst of all, a video of a South African leader purportedly making a racist hate speech is doing the rounds on social media. The caption to the video reads, “A black politician in South Africa tells his supporters to go and kill Whites and Indians and burn down their houses. Imagine this horrific situation in reverse!”
In the video, he can be heard saying, "Go to Indian communities, go there and kill Indians, and burn their houses. Go to White areas and once you are done with looting, go there and kill the White community, and burn their houses.”
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be false. This video is a clipped version of a longer speech where Mxolisi Kaunda, a South African leader, actually appeals to the community leaders to reject violence and racism.
AFWA probe
We did a reverse search of the keyframes in the video and found a longer version of the same video on the official Facebook page of eThekwini Municipality that includes the city of Durban, South Africa. The video was streamed live on July 14, 2021.
According to the video description, the man seen speaking in the video is eThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda. The description also states that Kaunda is engaging with community leaders from Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma, KwaMashu, and surrounding areas, and appealing to them to reject violence and racism and to work together to stabilise communities.
Listening to the longer version of the video, it is clear that Kaunda was alerting the community leaders in the context of the ongoing violence about a racist voice note which was circulating on social media and not calling for violence against racial groups.
At 00.10 seconds of the original video, the leader 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 looting, go to Indian areas...Go to Indian communities, go there and kill Indians and burn their houses. Go to White areas and once you are done with looting, go there and kill the White community and burn their houses. (sic)"
This meeting of Kaunda was also reported by the media on July 14. We also found a press release dated July 14 by the Durban government about Kaunda’s meeting with community leaders to restore stability and peace in eThekwini.
On July 15, the original video was again uploaded by the Facebook page of eThekwini Municipality, cautioning that Kaunda's speech has been manipulated in a way that “incites violence against the Indian and White communities.”
Quoting Kaunda, the post said, “Over the past few days, I have observed a disturbing trend by some members of the public 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.”
It is, thus, clear that the video in question is edited and taken out of context. The South African leader was not calling for violence against Indian and White communities.
Also read: Fact Check: New Year Celebration in Taiwan passed off as opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympics
Also read: Fact Check: No, Meenakashi Lekhi’s father-in-law didn’t defend Nathuram Godse in court
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