Claim: A Twitter (X) post, purportedly from the national broadcaster, ZBC News Online, went viral on social media claiming the Zimbabwe government had called for swimming training for school going children to enable them to safely cross rivers during the rainy season.
Source: Social media
Did the government make such a call?
Verdict: False
This claim is false, and has a number of red-flags undermining its credibility.
Summary of Red flags in the post
- Not posted on the official @ZBCNewsonline X page. The post has the banner of a parody account @ZBCNewsOnline_, which is notorious for sharing false information.
- Does not show date or time – The screenshot does not show the time or date when the post was made which is standard for all X posts. This suggests that the post was doctored as it does not appear on the imposter page @ZBCNewsOnline_.
- Not current – The screenshot went viral on Facebook in 2021
- Grammatical errors – the post reads, “to and fro schools” instead of to and from schools.
- Reference photo not from Zimbabwe. A reverse image search of the photo shows it was taken in Northern KwaZulu-Natal as students from Madonela Primary School where crossing Uhlajana River.
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