Social media posts declare that a picture exhibits Russian President Vladimir Putin not too long ago wishing South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma a cheerful birthday on stay tv. However the declare is fake: The picture was created by layering components sometimes seen in information broadcasts, together with a “breaking information” label, over an outdated picture of Putin. There is no such thing as a proof that any media made such a report.
“Haters…President Vladimir Putin of Russia wished President Jacob Zuma HAPPY BIRTHDAY”, reads a tweet printed on April 14, 2023.
The tweet features a picture of Putin overlaid with “breaking information” and a “stay” banners, giving the impression that the pinnacle of state was captured wishing Zuma a cheerful birthday throughout a stay information broadcast.
Zuma turned 81 on April 12, 2023.
A Twitter account that has been associated with Zuma’s daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla (archived here) amplified the identical declare to greater than 230,000 followers.
Zuma-Sambudla has beforehand expressed (archived here) her allegiance to Putin, calling him the “president of the world” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
South African police investigated her as a potential instigator (archived here) of the July 2021 riots (archived here) sparked by her father’s arrest on corruption charges. Greater than 350 folks died throughout the unrest.
Repurposed 2022 picture
A reverse image search of the picture exhibits that Russia’s state-owned information company shared the identical {photograph} of Putin with a number of information businesses, including AFP, on February 21, 2022 — greater than a yr in the past.
It exhibits Putin making a nationwide deal with throughout which he said he would decide about recognising the independence of east Ukraine’s insurgent republics after Russia’s prime officers made impassioned speeches in favour of the transfer.
Putin made no references to Zuma nor did he share any birthday needs in that speech.
Some apparent errors may be seen within the faux information broadcast. For instance, beneath “breaking information”, it reads, “VLADIMIR PUTIN WISHES JACOB ZUMA A 81TH BIRTHDAY,” as an alternative of an 81st.
A number of on-line picture enhancing instruments can and have been used previously to create related superimposed TV graphics.
BRICS alliance
Russia and South Africa are a part of the BRICS bloc, a bunch of rising nations that contains Brazil, India and China.
All eyes will probably be on South Africa because it hosts the fifteenth BRICS summit from August 22-24, 2023 to see if Putin attends.
The ICC announced (archived here) an arrest warrant for Putin on March 17, 2023 for the alleged “illegal deportation” of Ukrainian kids amid Russia’s invasion.
In 2015, South Africa didn’t comply (archived here) with the request by the ICC to arrest former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir when he attended an African Union summit in Johannesburg.
AFP Reality Examine debunked one other Russia-South Africa declare in March 2023 that purported to point out Putin arriving in South Africa for an official go to.