Zim man arrested in SA with lion’s head is fake ne...

Zim man arrested in SA with lion’s head is fake news: Africa Check

Zim Now Writer

Fact checking organisation Africa Check has dismissed social media posts in December 2023 claiming that South African police arrested a Zimbabwean man for possession of a lion’s head and US$350 000.

Some of the social media posts have claimed that on being arrested, the man said that he was brother to a high-ranking Zimbabwean government figure and was on his way to a traditional healer to sort out some spiritual problems in the family.

Some media organisations picked the story and reported it verbatim.

Africa Fact checked the story and concluded that the post that has gone viral with over 390 000 views on X and over 346 000 views on Facebook and is also shared on other platforms like TikTok and WhatsApp is fake news.

According to the fact-checking organisation, the image comes from news articles and social media posts in 2021.

”In a statement dated 10 December ,2021, the South African Police Service gave details of the incident. They said that two suspects had been arrested for possession of a lion’s head at a petrol station in Zeerust,” writes Africa Check.

The site also says that there was no mention of the suspects’ nationalities in the police statement or in any of the 2021 news reports although a blogger claimed that the suspects were illegal immigrants.

Police said the suspects, who said they had come from Johannesburg, also said they intended to sell the lion’s head to a traditional healer for R350 000.

They were not carrying US$350 000.

The outcome of the case is not known beyond that the suspects were reportedly granted bail by the Zeerust magistrates’ court in December 2021.

https://africacheck.org/fact-checks/meta-programme-fact-checks/no-zimbabwean-man-not-arrested-lions-head-south-africa-2023