CLAIM: A viral video shows a new built road in Zimbabwe ‘peeling off’
VERDICT: False. The road in the video is in South Africa, not Zimbabwe
A video showing a road user ‘peeling off’ a section of road and criticising its workmanship has gone viral among social media users in Zimbabwe. In the video, a person is seen taking pieces off the road, saying “this is the quality of road, a you that you can just peel like an orange.”
Some Zimbabwean social media users circulated the video with claims that the road was in Zimbabwe. One person said “Wake up Zimbabwe” while others asked local road agency ZINARA to explain.
However, the road is in fact the President Lucas Mangope Road in South Africa’s North West province, linking South Africa to Swartkopfontein on the Botswana border.
It was first posted on November 9, 2020, by journalist Zinhle Kanyane. Her report was broadcast on Newzroom Africa on the same day and can be viewed on the station’s YouTube channel.
An article by City Press on November 9, 2020, reported: “City Press has established that the department has tried to get the contractor, RoadMac Surfacing, to correct identified defects on the road.”
Conclusion
A road shown in viral videos as ‘peeling off’ is not in Zimbabwe, as claimed by some social media posts. The videos in fact shows a section of a South African road in the North West province, which links South Africa to Botswana.
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