No, elephant dung is not a cure for COVID-19
Photo courtesy: Axel Tschentscher / Wikimedia Commons Bizarre belief that elephant dung cures COVID-19 has environment and police officials issuing a public warning. There is no cure for COVID-19. Since COVID-19 started going global in January 2020 there have been all manner of fake treatments, cures or remedies circulating on social media and messaging platforms. […]
FALSE: Al Jazeera’s ‘Fishrot’ documentary was not aired before the 2019 elections
Photo courtesy: Namibian Presidency President Geingob has again falsely claimed that Al Jazeera’s ‘Fishrot’ documentary was aired before the November 2019 elections. During his opening speech on Saturday, 25 July 2020, at the Swapo Party Postmortem Meeting on the Presidential and National Assembly Elections 2019, held in Windhoek, ruling party and Namibian president Hage Geingob […]
TRUE: Until late 2019 there was no legal obligation on political parties to declare donations
Image courtesy: Dr. Hage Geingob / Facebook A claim by Namibian president Hage Geingob about the disclosure of donations received by political parties has attracted much discussion on social media. In short, president Geingob claimed that the ruling party, until 18 November 2019, had been under no legal obligation to comprehensively declare or publicly disclose […]
No, clinical trials have not been completed for potential Russian COVID-19 vaccine
Image courtesy: Twitter Misleading social media posts circulate with claims of Russia having successfully completed clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine. Part of the false claims is the false assertion that the Russian potential vaccine is the first to progress beyond first phase trialing. The false claims have started appearing on Namibian social media and […]
Denis Mukwege resignation not over orders to lie about COVID-19
Screenshot from: kiffasblog.com False quotes on social media state that 2018 Nobel Laureate Denis Mukwege resigned from the DRC’s COVID-19 response team because he was ordered to lie. These claims, which have gone viral across Africa, have infiltrated Namibian social media groups and have been widely shared on Facebook and WhatsApp with the apparent intention […]
International reports mislead about Swapo’s lockdown violation fine
Image courtesy: The Telegraph International media reports falsely state that president Geingob fined all those who attended Swapo’s 60th birthday party. UPDATED: Sections stating that each of the Swapo Party members who had attended the birthday party had paid a fine and a paragraph about information provided by a The Namibian reporter to Namibia Fact […]
Poem minister Shiimi quoted is not from 1819
Photo courtesy: www.eaglefm.com.na A poem that has gone viral in the age of COVID-19 was recited in the budget speech of finance minister Shiimi, who wrongly stated it was from two centuries ago. As he commenced the delivering of his inaugural budget statement in the National Assembly on 27 May 2020, Namibian finance minister Iiipumbu […]
No, Africa is not free, democratic or without war and unrest
Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash President Hage Geingob’s claims on Africa Day are far from the reality about the state of peace, democracy and freedom on the continent. Towards the end of a widely publicised statement on Africa Day, on 25 May 2020, Namibian president Hage Geingob stated: “We truly have much have much […]
No, Namibia is not a ‘drunkard society’
Photo by Dylan de Jonge on Unsplash Namibian police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga’s claims about the levels of alcohol abuse in Namibia are overblown, evidence suggests. A newspaper report on 19 May 2020 quoted inspector-general of the Namibian Police, Sebastian Ndeitunga, saying “Namibia is a “drunkard society”. The report also quoted the police chief stating, about […]
No, there are not 130 000 Chinese living in Namibia
Photo by Henry & Co. on Unsplash The exaggerated number appears in a news report which does not provide evidence for the figure mentioned or its source. The large number cited came up in an article, titled ‘Down and out in Katutura … Chinese duo find going tough‘, in The Namibian newspaper of 28 April […]