Website that carried 'fake' Welshman Ncube interview has shared misinformation before - ZimFact
Ngoni Mhuruyengwe
February 23, 2022
On February 22, the website Zim Guardian ran what it claimed to be an interview with Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC)’s co-Vice President, Welshman Ncube. In the article, the website says Ncube explained why he did not show up at the party’s star rally held in Harare.
The article carries quotes that it said are from Ncube:
“I was not informed of the rally in advance. Besides, I had already committed myself to other engagements, that’s why I could not make it. I had important meetings that I could not postpone in lieu of the rally. But frankly, of what value was my presence going to add to what appears to have been the usual script against Mnangagwa. Above all, I don’t waste time in meetings that I am sure won’t achieve anything.”
However, Ncube told ZimFact that he never spoke to the website.
“I don’t know anything about this (Zim Guardian) website. Saying I was interviewed by them is utterly false and fake and I’m sure it’s a way of soiling my name and image,” Ncube said on Wednesday.
Red flags in the article include quotes in which ‘Ncube’ purportedly accuses his own party of violence and calling for sanctions.
One quote says: “Real leaders spend their time doing what they and what the country will see to be better than what the others have done. That is what we expect from the opposition. Let them come up with better alternatives besides calling for violence and sanctions.”
An assessment of the website shows that it has published misinformation before.
For example, one September 2021 article on the site claims that South African celebrity Somizi Mhlongo spoke to journalists and “thanked the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ), and the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance for inviting him to Zimbabwe, where he is expected to launch a campaign to promote the rights of gays and lesbians”.
There is no record of Mhlongo making such a comment to journalists.